Window washer survives 11-storey fall by landing on moving car

The man was screaming as he fell from the roof a San Francisco building and shattered the car’s windscreen on impact

Police and citizens look over a car's caved in roof after a window washer fell 11 stories from the roof of a building and landed on the car (AP)

A window washer who fell screaming from the roof a San Francisco building survived after he landed on a moving car 11 floors below.

The man, who has not been named, was conscious when paramedics reached him on Friday. He remained in a critical condition at a San Francisco hospital on Friday night, officials said.

The roof of the car that broke his fall was crushed and its rear windscreen shattered, but its driver, Mohammad Alcozai, was not injured.

Mr Alcozai told local news channel KGO-TV that he saw something hit his car just after he made a left turn.

“I’m very happy that I didn’t get hurt,” he said. “Hopefully he can make it. I pray for him that he can make it,” he said, speaking of the window washer.

Witnesses described seeing a blue streak and the man’s shadow as he fell and then hearing shattering glass as he hit the car before rolling onto the ground.

“As he was coming down, he was definitely screaming,” said Bianca Bahman, 31, a pre-medical student at San Francisco State University who had been walking to the gym and was on the corner where the man fell.

Around 20 people rushed to the scene and found the man on his back, bleeding and lucid.

San Francisco police sergeant Danielle Newman said the man was moving equipment on the roof of a bank building in the heart of the financial district, and was not stood on a window-washing platform when he fell.

Sam Hartwell, 56, told Fox News that a nurse was one of the 20 people who had rushed to the man, and that people gathered put clothing on the man while they waited for the ambulance.

“He was lucid. He understood we were there with him,” he said.

Additional reporting by AP