Lift plunges 84 floors after cable snaps

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Lift plunges 84 floors after cable snaps

Chicago - The lift had passed its most recent inspection in July.

By Web Report

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Published: Wed 21 Nov 2018, 10:35 AM

Last updated: Wed 21 Nov 2018, 12:41 PM

Six people, including a pregnant woman, had a narrow escape after the lift inside one of Chicago's tallest buildings, named 875 North Michigan Avenue, plunged down 84 floors on Friday morning.
The elevator in a skyscraper, formerly known as the John Hancock Center, fell from the 95th to the 11th floor trapping all six people inside it for almost three hours. The trapped people sent out text messages to friends who called for emergency services, according to BBC report. Fire officials reportedly said that the accident occurred after the lift's hoist rope snapped caused it to fall. 
Fortunately, a major tragedy was averted as the elevator's cables were still attached to the cabin preventing it from hitting the ground. Jaime Montemayor, 50, who was in the lift with his wife, said he initially felt the lift going down normally but then it suddenly fell. It is stated that the group had left a bar on the 95th floor to go down to the lobby when they heard a sudden "clack clack clack" followed by dust seeping into the cabin. 
Those inside the lift screamed, prayed and cried, reports said. "I believed we were going to die," said Montemayor who was visiting from Mexico. All the six were rescued after firefighters made an opening in a concrete wall to get to the trapped passengers. "We couldn't do an elevator-to-elevator rescue. We had to breach a wall on the 11th floor of the parking garage in order to open up the elevator doors," BBC quoted Chicago Fire Department battalion chief, Patrick Maloney, as saying in US TV.
The lift had passed its most recent inspection in July, reports stated adding that the incident is under investigation.


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