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A man saved a woman from a falling lift, saying "Happy New Year" as he shoved her before being fatally crushed.

Stephen Hewett-Brown was trying to escape a stalled lift in an apartment building in Manhattan at around 11.30pm yesterday, police said.

Witness Manuel Coronado said Hewett-Brown pushed resident Erude Sanchez out of the lift before it fell down the shaft, taking him with it.

"She started going in, but the elevator started going down and he pushed her out," Coronado said.

"He said 'Happy New Year' and pushed her out."

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It was sheer chance Hewett-Brown, 25, was even in the elevator to aid Sanchez, 43, the New York Daily News reports .

The young hero didn’t live in the 26-story building but had come from the Bronx to attend a New Year's Eve party.

(Image: google)

Coronado said he and other residents desperately dialled 911, but help didn't come for 20 to 30 minutes.

The courageous victim was rushed to New York Hospital in "traumatic arrest" at 11.54pm, a fire service spokesman said, but he could not be saved.

The building has three active city Buildings Department violations, all for lift defects and all dating to May 30, 2014.

A man who answered an emergency line for Wavecrest Management, which runs the building, said no one would be available to comment until after the holiday weekend.

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