Teen Falls 50 Feet on Queensboro Bridge in TikTok Stunt

A 16-year-old boy from Lynbrook on Long Island fell about 50 feet into a narrow shaft on the Queensboro Bridge Monday evening while attempting to film a video for TikTok, prompting a large-scale rescue operation by emergency responders.

The incident occurred on the Queens side of the bridge spanning the East River. Authorities said the teenager climbed down a ladder into a confined passageway within one of the bridge's buttresses, lost his footing, and became trapped. He remained stuck for several hours, suffering from hypothermia, before firefighters extracted him around 9 p.m. The boy was transported to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell Medical Center in critical condition but has since stabilized, according to Fire Department of New York officials.

Emergency crews responded to a 911 call just before 9 p.m., though the fall was first reported around 5 p.m. through anonymous tips based on circulating videos in group chats. The teenager had been climbing the structure with friends, but they fled the scene without immediately alerting authorities, sources told investigators. A woman who knew the group saw the videos and contacted police anonymously, saying the friends...