Crane operator winches man trapped in burning inferno to safety after UK building tragedy

Two people have been saved from a burning high-rise building in a dramatic rescue using a crane.

A crane operator has been hailed as a hero after he performed a Hollywood-style rescue, saving a worker from the roof of a raging inferno in the UK on Thursday.

A fire engulfed the Station Hill development building in Reading, with flames raging metres in the air and black smoke billowing across the region.

As people evacuated the building up in flames, two people remained trapped with one seen waving a black coat on the top of the building.

Crane operator Glen Edwards saw the person waving for help as flames could be seen getting closer. Knowing he had to act quickly, he was forced into action.

Video captured the dramatic moment Edwards managed to expertly battle both winds and time to drop a cabin on the top of the building where the trapped worker was.

The person was able to quickly jump into the cage and Edwards then winched him to safety with just moments to spare.

The hero crane operator played down the rescue, saying: “It’s not been your average day.

“The wind was blowing the cage about. I was just waiting for the smoke to clear. I could see I was putting it down in the flames. The banksman [supervisor] told me when he was in.

“I was no more than 20 metres up in the air and I looked out my left-hand window and saw a guy standing on the corner of the building. I’d only just seen him and someone said ‘can you get the cage on’, so that was it, I got the cage on and got it over to him the best I could. It was quite windy conditions.”

Two people have been saved from a burning high-rise building in a dramatic rescue using a crane.

Edwards managed to winch the man to safety at top speed as the blaze continued to roar, passing his cargo through the thick black smoke that was spreading throughout the town in what he described as a “close call”.

“If you look at the video at the way the wind was swirling around there. I tried to put the cage down between him and the flames, but I was hampered by the wind swirling around there. But I got the cage down and I managed to get him in there.”

The dramatic three-minute rescue undoubtedly saved the builder’s life, as all around him blazing cladding caused massive clouds of toxic smoke.

Onlookers clapped as Edwards plucked the man away from the flames.

A witness said: “The crane driver was very fast. He was still in the crane while the building was on fire.”

It took more than 50 firefighters to put the flames out.