‘Thought we’d die’: An hour trapped inside stifling hot elevator

Pamela Hine and her husband Ian were on their way back home from the Brisbane and Collingwood AFL match last Thursday when the lift at Southern Cross station broke down halfway between ground floor and level one on platform 14 with the couple and six others inside.

“The lift got about halfway and we were all thinking it’s terribly slow … then after five minutes we realised we weren‘t moving at all,” the 79-year-old told NCA NewsWire.

“We started banging on the doors and yelling ‘can someone hear us’ and then we really started to panic when my nephew tried dialling triple-0 but couldn’t get it to work.”

The group of seven adults and a seven-year-old child continued to bang on the doors until Ms Hine recommended they conserve air and energy as it had started to get “stifling hot” inside the lift.

“It was a 29-degree day, one lady’s hair was dripping wet because she was sweating so much,” she said.

After about 20 minutes of being trapped, Ms Hine said her 86-year-old husband collapsed.

“His legs just gave way … he was on the floor, he looked terrible. I poured some water over his head to cool him down,” she said.

“We pushed the emergency phone in the lift ten times and it just kept ringing out, no one was answering.

“The fan wouldn’t start, there were ten lights on the top of our heads – we couldn’t breathe and we were getting anxiety … we thought we would perish halfway between ground floor and level one.”

Finally another woman in the lift managed to dial through to emergency services, and when they arrived, crews jemmied the doors open and passed water bottles through the opening.

“This rush of air immediately came in and we were trying to wave the air over to my husband on the ground,” Ms Hines said.

“We were traumatised, it was a horrendous ordeal.”

Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed the incident and said crews had arrived to find the lift had stopped two metres above the ground.

“The people inside the lift reported that the lift was very hot inside,” a FRV spokesperson said.

“FRV crews wedged open the doors of the lift at 11.30pm, providing the people inside with water. Shortly before 11.40pm firefighters freed all people from the lift.”

Southern Cross Station has been contacted for comment.

anthony.piovesan@news.com.au