Tourists on the 103rd floor of Chicago’s Willis Tower got an extra nerve-wreck when the glass coating under their feet broke into thousands of pieces.
According to CBS 2, a sound of ‘boom’ was heard by a tourist before the glass covering got ‘splintered into thousands of pieces.’
A mother with her two children was standing in the sightseeing glass box, enjoying the view from the Willis Tower at the moment the glass covering cracked.
Fortunately, the tourists standing on the ledge remained safe when the glass shattered.
A spokesperson for Willis Tower later said in a statement that the glass covering was just a protective sheet coating on top of the Skydeck.
Standing at 1,451 feet (443 meters), Willis Tower is the highest building in Chicago and the second-highest in the US.
A terrified eyewitness commented on the situation, saying that the incident was frightening enough to keep them away from the glass deck.
Speaking to the CBS 2, tourist Karly Pintado said: “I’m scared of heights in general so when I saw that happen, I was like ‘Nope, not going on.’”
While most of the visitors who were spectating the Monday’s evening incident were left shocked, Pintado’s husband, Jesus, was able to capture the harrowing phenomenon in a video clip.
However, it isn’t the first time the glass covering of the sky-high tourist attraction has fractured while being opened for the business.
The exact same incident happened previously in May 2014.
Speaking to The Atlantic at the time, a public relations officer said: “The [glass] coating does not affect the structural integrity of The Ledge in any way.
“Occasionally, the coating will crack, as it is designed to in order to protect the surface of the glass.”
The Willis Tower – previously known as the Sears Tower – became the tallest building in the world when it was constructed in 1973, grabbing the title from World Trade Center which it had held for the last 25 years.
The Skydeck was opened on the 103rd floor of the sky-high building a year after its construction.
Since its opening, the Skydeck had remained a popular tourist spot, with millions of people across the globe visiting it every year.