Alcides Moreno

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Alcides Moreno is a window washer who survived a fall of forty-seven stories.

On the morning of December 7, 2007, the window washer's platform he and his brother Edgar were working on fell without warning from the 47th floor of an apartment building on 66th Street in New York City. While his brother was killed on impact, Moreno survived despite severe injuries. Many, including Moreno's wife Rosario, have referred to his survival from the nearly 500-foot (150 m) fall as a "miracle."^[1] The fact that he didn't strike his head or break his pelvis during the fall is credited with saving his life.^[2]

Dr. Philip S. Barie, the chief of the division of critical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital where Moreno is being treated, has stated that the chances of surviving such a fall are well below 1%. The death rate from even a three-story fall is about 50 percent, Barie said. People who fall more than 10 stories almost never survive.^[3] Moreno's survival has been attributed to the 16-foot (4.9 m) scaffolding platform that he clung to as he fell; its large surface area likely reduced his terminal velocity, and there is the possibility that he was further slowed by crosswinds and by the platform striking the side of the building on the way down. The manner of his landing also helped; the scaffolding frame hit a wall and landed on a pile of twisted cables that provided a better cushion for landing than plain concrete, and based on his injuries (he broke both legs and his right arm) it appears his extremities absorbed the brunt of the impact.^[4]

The story of survival was noted as far away as the United Kingdom.^[5]

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