DEVELOPING: Two workers who were stuck on scaffolding outside the 69th floor of World Trade Center have been rescued.

The incident began unfolding shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday at 1 World Trade Center, the nation's tallest skyscraper. Television images showed one side of the scaffolding had dropped at a sharp angle, MyFoxNY.com reports. Authorities soon broke a window on a nearby floor and pulled the unidentified employees to safety.

Minutes earlier, bystanders on the ground were moved back in case glass began flying. Office workers and construction workers streamed onto a nearby street, their necks craned upward to watch the scaffold as it is waved in the wind. Dozens of emergency vehicles lined the street.

Carol Thomas and Lisa Cogliano, who both work for an insurance company, were returning to their nearby office from a meeting.

"Oh God, I don't want to know what he is feeling," said Thomas. "I can't imagine."

"It's horrific," said Cogliano. "Hopefully, they find a way to get him out."

The 1,776-foot, 104-story skyscraper — which rose from the ashes of the 9/11 terror attacks — reopened just last week to 175 employees of the magazine publishing giant Conde Nast. About 3,000 more Conde Nast employees are expected to move in by early next year, eventually occupying 25 floors of the $3.9 billion tower.

Steps away from the new tower are two memorial fountains built on the footprints of the decimated twin towers, a reminder of the more than 2,700 people who died in the terrorist attack.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.