Delicate rescue to free teen boy trapped for hours in bank vault
Firefighters in Queensland have carried out a delicate rescue operation after being called on to break into an old bank vault to free a teenage boy.
The youngster was playing with friends in Ipswich, west of Brisbane, about lunchtime when he was accidentally locked inside the solid old steel bank vault, which is now part of a church building.
There were no keys, no light and limited oxygen. Rescuers had to work quickly.
“[We were] cutting the hinges, cutting the door open. Trying to gain access through the sides to free the boy,” Queensland Fire and Emergency Service firefighter Rohan Wilschefski told 7News.
But work like that in an old bank building presented its own concerns, with the firefighter explaining that any flame was going to “light the building up.”
There was a second plan to bring locksmith experts from Brisbane.
“But the thing that has worked in his [the boy’s] favour is the space was so large that it’s held enough oxygen for him to continue breathing,” Mr Wilschefski said.
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Although the original plan was time-consuming, it turned out to be a success.
Ethan was finally freed two hours later and was back in the arms of his mum – safe and uninjured.
