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Four Las Vegas window washers rescued from side of hotel

Clark County and Las Vegas firefighters spent three hours rigging ropes and descending from the roof of the 46-story Vdara Hotel to harness and lower the workers one at a time to a landing area below.

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John Locher/Las Vegas Review-Journal/AP
A Las Vegas Fire Department high-angle rescue worker lowers down to window washers who stranded outside the 35th floor of the Vdara Hotel at CityCenter in Las Vegas, on July 25.
  • By Ken Ritter Associated Press

| LAS VEGAS

Four window washers were rescued by firefighters Wednesday after they were stranded for several hours outside the 35th floor of a Las Vegas Strip high-rise hotel.

Clark County and Las Vegas firefighters spent three hours rigging ropes and descending from the roof of the 46-story Vdara Hotel to harness and lower the workers one at a time to a landing area below.

Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling said firefighters were summoned about noon after the men reported that their work platform appeared to be slipping.

No injuries were reported.

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The Vdara is one of several glassy CityCenter complex hotels built by MGM Resorts International and Dubai World. The surrounding 67-acre development opened in December 2009, with the Aria, Veer and Mandarin Oriental hotels, a casino and the upscale Crystals shopping and restaurant complex. The flawed Harmon hotel and condominium tower never opened.

Hotel spokeswoman Yvette Monet said the workers' platform apparently stalled due to a mechanical malfunction.

The first firefighter to reach the men brought bottled water, officials said. The National Weather Service reported temperatures at 104 degrees and winds a moderate 10 mph at nearby McCarran International Airport at the time.

Television viewers watched the rescue live on local television.

Las Vegas fire spokesman Tim Szymanski said the city's high-angle rescue team trains regularly for similar situations.

In March 2009, firefighters rescued two window washers who suffered minor injuries when a cable holding their platform snapped during gusty winds outside the Wynn Resorts-owned Encore Las Vegas.

Both men were wearing safety harnesses, and were pulled to safety through a 15th- floor window, while the platform slammed against windows facing the Vegas Strip and rained broken glass onto a swimming pool area below.

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