Panic gripped Osmania General Hospital on Monday morning after an elevator carrying 16 persons – including a doctor, patients and hospital staff – got stuck between two floors. It was after a harrowing two hours that the occupants were rescued by Fire Department personnel.
Eyewitnesses said the lift, carrying around 15 persons, stopped between the ground floor and the first floor, reportedly due to overloading. The people inside immediately shouted for help and alerted relatives over their mobile phone.
Hospital authorities called in an electrician as well as the lift engineer, but they could not do much as they lacked proper equipment. Afzalgunj Police and Fire and Emergency Services Department personnel who arrived, broke open the iron grill of the lift and brought its occupants down with the help of a ladder.
“ Luckily, the lift had an iron grill otherwise we would have had to supply oxygen through a pipe inside the lift,” said Gowliguda fire officer A. Srinivasa Rao.
“The problem occurred as it was an old lift. Those rescued did not suffer any injuries,” hospital officials said.
