Man freed after being trapped in New York City jewelry store vault overnight for 10 hours

A customer is now free after being trapped in the vault of a jewelry store in New York City's Diamond District for about 10 hours overnight.

He was only able to come out this morning when the timer went off and the doors unlocked, said the New York Fire Department.

FDNY Deputy Assistant Chief John Sarrocco, in a press briefing, said that the customer was locked inside the secure room at 580 Fifth Avenue, which has multiple small jewelry stores and vaults on-site, on Tuesday night. He said that the fire department received a call from the security company, DGA Securities, that manages the vault around 8:45 p.m., about the trapped customer.

The fire chief said that the customer was accessing his safety deposit box in the 20 by 40 vault when it closed trapping him inside.

Sarrocco explained that the vault is set to close at a given time and once it's closed, it's on a "timing mechanism" and does not reopen until a certain amount of time has passed, adding that the management did not know the customer was inside when the doors were closing.

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From trapped to set free

The official said the FDNY responded to the incident, sending rescue teams to retrieve the customer. Rescue units evaluated the walls of the vault, which had several folds, and began cutting through about 30 inches of concrete. 10 hours later, they reached the metal plating which required torches to cut through.

"We determined that at that point, after about 10 hours, that we would hold off and see if the doors would open automatically," said Sarrocco. "The problem with the plating is we'd have to use our torches on them which would infect the environment and that person inside the vault."

Fortunately for everyone, the vault opened on its own in the early hours of Wednesday around 6:45 a.m. finally freeing the trapped customer.

The FDNY official said that rescue teams were in constant contact with the trapped customer through audio and video and were assessing his health to ensure his safety. The vault had a proper heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, which ensured the customer's good health, according to the fire department.

Officials say the customer was physically evaluated and appears to be okay.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.

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