In a miraculous incident, a 12-year-old girl fell into the chimney of her apartment building, slipped 14 stories down and yet came out almost unscathed on Thursday night, the 31st July’08.
The girl, Grace Bergere, a rock drummer with New York City children’s chorus, went to the top of her Family’s West Village apartment to show her visiting cousin from California, the panoramic view of the city from top of the apartment.
The apartment has a rooftop platform overlooking the Hudson River. To get to that point she climbed up a 25 feet ladder by the side of the flue and accidentally landed in the gapping mouth of the flue and immediately plunged down to the basement of the furnace.
The fire fighters were not expecting the girl’s survival and were ready for the worst while opening the metal door of the furnace. While the father screamed her name, the fire fighters jumped in disbelief as the girl’s small hand pocked out of the opening. When the firefighters pulled her out, she was completely covered with soot with only her mouth and eyes visible.
As per fire officials, the two feet thick piles of soot and ash at the base of the chimney may have saved her life cushioning her impact on fall. Explaining cause of her magical survival further, Fire Lt. Simon Ressner said, “I believe she went down head first and landed on back”. “Its an absolute miracle”, said the father of the girl, Steve Bergere, a jazz guitarist.
Taking to visitors and watching TV, Grace is being treated at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital Center for injured hip and is listed as ‘in fair condition’ but still is in pain on Saturday.
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