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Window washers rescued after scaffold accident high on 75-story Houston tower

The JPMorgan Chase Tower, formerly called the Texas Commerce Tower, is the tallest skyscraper in Texas.

By Doug G. Ware

HOUSTON, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- Two window washers were rescued Monday after becoming stranded while working near the top of the tallest skyscraper in Houston, authorities said.

The washers were working on scaffolding outside the 75-story JPMorgan Chase Tower in downtown Houston when a motor on the apparatus malfunctioned near the 70th floor, the Houston Chronicle reported Monday.

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The dramatic rescue occurred at around 10:30 a.m. local time Monday.

Emergency personnel assisted the washers through a window on the 71st floor, the Chronicle reported, and both workers were unharmed. All told, they were stranded outside the 1,000-foot tower for about a half hour.

"We just hoped the firefighters would be successful," Martha Ross, a visitor from Europe who witnessed the rescue, said.

The 35-year-old JP Morgan Chase Tower, formerly known as the Texas Commerce Tower, is the 13th-tallest building in the United States and the tallest in Texas.

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