A major tragedy was averted on February 7, when a free-falling lift from the tenth floor in Amrapali Platinum, a society in Sector 119, Noida, luckily stopped at the third floor. There were four people inside the lift, including three schoolchildren, when the elevator came crashing down around 2.30 pm.
On the way up, the lift stopped at the 10th floor, where one of the kids was supposed to get off, but its door did not open. Instead, it went crashing down in a free fall, only to stop at the 3rd floor, where its doors opened and the four inside could escape unharmed.
Sneha Singh, the 8-year-old who was in the lift with her sister, said she was petrified when the lift started falling. "When the doors of the lift opened on the 3rd floor, we scampered out and used the other lift to reach our flat," she said.
Sujata Singh, a resident of Amrapali Platinum, told City Spidey that this was not the first time something like this had happened in the society and that residents had witnessed serious problems with the lifts several times.
"The lifts are in terrible condition and the maintenance team is not doing its bit for their upkeep," said RK Saxena, another resident. "Using the society's elevators is hazardous."
When City Spidey took up the issue with Saurabh Sharma, a member of the society's maintenance team, he said that he had rushed to the spot once he had known of the incident. "We are trying to figure out why the lift malfunctioned," said Sharma.
