New York student Asher Vongtau trapped in gap between two buildings for 36 hours A UNIVERSITY student believed missing was actually trapped for up to 36 hours in a tiny gap between his dorm building and a neighbouring structure. New York University political-science major Asher Vongtau was rescued after worried pals raised the alarm and rescue workers heard his moans. It started out that he was missing, nobody knew where he was. And all of a sudden, they discovered he'd fallen between two buildings,"" said Habiba Vongtau, the mom of the 19-year-old victim. "I'm just completely stunned - he's actually one of those responsible kids,"" she told The New York Post from her Pittsburgh home as she prepared to take a bus to Manhattan to see her son at Bellevue hospital in New York, where he was in serious but stable condition. A pal said he last saw Mr Vongtau early on Saturday, after his friend left his dorm room. "I don't want to elaborate on what we were doing in there,"" said sophomore Mike Yablon, 19. He said he and some other friends reported Mr Vongtau was missing to school officials later on Saturday night. But campus security didn't believe that Mr Vongtau, a Nigerian native, was missing at first, Mr Yablon claimed. All of his friends went to security to tell them that he was gone and was last seen heading to the roof. They thought it was a joke,"" Mr Yablon said. They didn't want to check the cameras until tomorrow. We finally got them to go check it out, and they found his cellphone up there (on the dorm roof). School officials said they started searching for Mr Vongtau after he was reported missing on Saturday. New York University spokesman John Beckman said Mr Vongtau was found by school security on Sunday afternoon when one officer heard him moaning from within the tiny space. Cops said they believe Mr Vongtau somehow fell into the gap, which fire officials said was six to 18 inches wide. It was not clear how far he fell. The dorm building is 18 stories high and the victim lives on the fifth floor. He was found on the main-level floor of the building, on his side. He was moving his arms, so we knew he was alive,"" Fire Chief Joseph Schiralli said at the scene, 80 Lafayette St. I asked him how old he was, and he said 19. "He had been inside of that 2-foot shaft for about a day or two,"" Mr Schiralli said. But he seems to be in good health. "It took about an hour and a half to get him out,"" with rescue workers breaking through the wall of the garage [next door] to free him at around 6.30pm. "We had our companies use pneumatic tools to extricate the victim,"" Mr Schiralli said.