Two children among 6 trapped in Noida hospital lift for 30 minutes
The family of six had come to the hospital to visit one of their relatives admitted there on the fifth floor
Two days after eight people were killed in a lift collapse at a construction site in Greater Noida West, six people who visited the Gautam Budh Nagar district hospital in Sector 39 suffered a scare on Sunday after the lift they got in malfunctioned, trapping them inside for over 30 minutes, hospital officials aware of the matter said on Monday.
The six who were in the lift included two elderly women and two children, and they were rescued only after one of their relatives reached the hospital and alerted the staff that people were trapped in the hospital lift, according to the people who were stuck in the elevator.
A video of a technician rescuing the people from the stuck elevator was later circulated on social media platforms. The family had come to the hospital to visit one of their relatives admitted there on the fifth floor.
However, the hospital later said the lift was stuck only for about “10 minutes”, and too following a power outage.
Dipika Kumari, who was among the people trapped in the lift, said it took around 30 minutes for the authorities to realise that the lift got stuck. “We had taken lift number 2 to the fifth floor around 7pm Sunday to visit a family member admitted there. The lift had suddenly stopped on the second floor.”
“We were six, including two children and two elderly women. We remained stuck for around 30 minutes. We made several attempts to raise the alarm through the emergency intercom and by pressing the alarm button but to no avail. Our mobile phones had no network coverage and we somehow managed to make a call to a relative as soon as one of the phones got a bit of connectivity.”
The woman and her family alleged that help arrived only after the person they called came rushing to the hospital and alerted the staff about the stuck elevator.
“After my brother alerted the hospital staff, a technician and maintenance team arrived and forced open the elevator. There was very little air and two of the family members nearly passed out,” said Dipika Kumari.
Gautam Budh Nagar district hospital authorities, however, said the elevator was stuck only for ten minutes following a power outage.
Chief medical superintendent (CMS) Dr Renu Agarwal said, “The people were rescued successfully shortly after we were alerted that one of the elevators was stuck. There was no patient inside and the incident happened as power supply was disrupted. However, we are issuing a notice to the maintenance team with regards to the incident.”
Jitendra Singh, station house officer of the Sector 39 police station, said, “No complaint has been registered in the incident yet.”
Several incidents of people getting trapped in elevators have been reported in the past in Noida.
On Friday (September 15), eight people were killed at the under-construction residential society of Amrapali Dream Valley Phase 2 in Greater Noida West after a lift, carrying workers to the upper floors, fell to the ground from 14th floor. One worker continues to remain critical at the hospital. Two people of the construction firm have been arrested in connection with the incident.
In a similar incident in August, a 73-year-old woman died after the lift she got in at Paras Tierea society in Sector 137 malfunctioned and went into free fall. Noida police had registered a case against the maintenance firm, lift manufacturer and the residents’ body office-bearers in the incident.
