A few staff members of a call centre, including several women, had anxious moments after they were stuck for nearly an hour inside an elevator in South Point mall on Golf Course Road. The staff were returning after a late night pary at a restaurant in the mall when the incident happened. They were, however, safely rescued by the police after breaking the glass of the elevator.
Party at the mall
Around 20 men and women took the elevator for the basement after a get together at ‘7 Degrees Brauhaus’ on the third floor of the mall around midnight on July 29. However, the elevator suddenly stopped between the ground floor and the first floor. The team of the shopping mall arrived at the spot but eventually decided to call the police to avoid any mishap.
The police team, led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Jaswant, reached the spot from Sector 53 Police Station and rescued the men and the women. The police team arranged for movable stairs and rescued the men and women after breaking the glass of the elevator. Having remained stuck inside for almost an hour, some of the women allegedly felt like passing out due to lack of oxygen before they were rescued. While inside, they could be seen making gestures and calls from inside the elevator seeking help.
‘Inebriated at the time’
Assistant Manager, South Point Mall, Lovely, told The Hindu that the staff members were all young and were in inebriated state at the time of the incident. He said that they did not heed to repeated requests from the security personnel to not board the elevator in large numbers. He claimed the elevator was well-maintained and checks were carried out at regular intervals. Mr. Lovely said that the company responsible for the maintenance of the elevator was directed to conduct Root Cause Analysis and submit a report.
Refusing to speculate on the reasons for the malfunction of the elevator, Mr. Lovely, however, alleged that the call centre staff probably pressed too many buttons multiple times causing it to stop in the middle. However, the police have not registered a case in this connection so far. “We have not received any formal complaint, so no case has been registered,” said Station House Officer, Sector 53 Police Station, Inspector Rahul Kumar.
