Earlier this morning, we received several tips about an unidentified male student who became stuck in a fan shaft within a green pillar in the East Campus high-rise building last night. This student had fallen into the shaft from the building’s roof, and ended up around the 16th floor.

At around 7:45 am, the fire department was called and the building evacuated. The fire department drilled the student out; he was safely rescued by 9:30 am. One of our tipsters stated that, “He was unconscious and there was blood.” The police are now investigating this incident as a crime; there are active crime scenes on the 16th floor.

While drilling out the student, the fire department hit a pipe, causing flooding in the walls and near the pillar for a few floors below 16. One tipster told us that EC suites 02 through 04 were flooded, and students are already being evacuated from their housing. However, nobody has been told where these students will be placed while the damage is fixed, how the damage will be fixed, or who will pay for personal damages to students in the affected suites.

One of the firemen was overheard saying, “You guys are supposed to be the top 1% or something, right?”

We have reached out to Columbia Housing for comments, and will update this post with more information as we get it.

UPDATE, 12:45 pm: Housing is not available for comment at this time.

UPDATE, 1:20 pm: An anonymous source from the 16th floor of EC told us that the wall between 1602 and 1604 was partially torn out when the fire department rescued the trapped student, leaving those two suites uninhabitable. Those suites also have two to three inches of water on their lower levels, where their occupants’ bedrooms are located; our source described this flooding as “pretty dramatic.” The students in these suites will be relocating, but do not know yet where they will go.

Photos from the 14th floor via Kevin Chen