Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Two workers who were sandblasting and painting the inside of a Wheeling water tower Friday are in critical condition after a cable holding up their scaffolding snapped and caused them to fall. One of the workers fell 60 to 80 feet, while the other had facial injuries but was mobile, after the scaffolding swung and smashed into the side of the tank. The preliminary investigation points toward equipment failure.

As many as 40 technical rescue firefighters from a dozen towns arrived at the village-owned water tank at 702 Wolf Court just after 9 a.m. Firefighters used ropes and harnesses to help both victims in what was described as a very involved and technical rescue. It took them about 12 minutes to ascend to the top of the tank, reach the injured workers, and give them emergency medical treatment. Both injured men were then put in harnesses, and ropes were used to lift and lower them some 100 feet to safety.

“There are a series of manhole-size openings, so they actually had to lift the patients up to lower the patients (to the ground), so it was a pretty tricky technical rescue” Wheeling Fire Chief Mike McGreal said.

A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed Friday afternoon that the federal agency has opened an investigation. The contractor, D & M Painting Corp., based in Washington, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $482,840 contract by Wheeling in April to re-coat the tank which holds potable drinking water for residents and businesses. A $41,100 contract went to Dixon Engineering to perform the initial analysis.

Village tanks are drained and inspected every five years to analyze coatings for any corrosion, while a full-scale stripping of coatings followed by re-coatings takes place every 17 to 24 years.