Jewelry Store Customer Trapped in Safe Room for 10 Hours Overnight The man was checking his safety deposit box when he got trapped inside the 20-by-40-foot space.
By Sam Silverman Edited by Jessica Thomas
Key Takeaways
- The 23-year-old man was accidentally locked inside the vault by employees.
- Firefighters responded to the scene soon after, but freeing the customer proved difficult.
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A 23-year-old man found himself locked inside a safe room in New York's Diamond District for nearly 10 hours.
The jewelry store customer was checking his safety deposit box in a DGA securities vault in the basement of 580 Fifth Avenue, which houses several jewelry vendors and vaults, at around 8 p.m. Tuesday. Employees locked the door from the outside, not knowing he was inside, according to ABC News.
Once the door was closed, it could not reopen until the following day.
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The 20-foot by 40-foot secure room "was closed by the people that own the vault," firefighters told the outlet. "Once the door is closed after 7 p.m., it locks automatically. It's on a timer mechanism. It does not reopen until a certain time passes."
Firefighters were alerted of the incident and spent 10 hours cutting through 30 inches of concrete, only to be met with metal plating. With torches needed to cut through the metal and the morning approaching, firefighters decided to wait until the doors automatically opened.
The man was freed around 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
He was on the phone with the rescue team during the ordeal and was evaluated and released, according to ABC News.
More than 90% of diamonds in the United States come through New York's Diamond District, located on West 47th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenue, according to the Diamond District's official website. The Diamond District produces $400 million in sales on average daily and generates $24 billion in sales annually.
