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CHICAGO –
Six people who were rescued from an elevator in the former John Hancock building, one of Chicago's tallest skyscrapers, later learned that the fall had lasted 84 stories after the breakup two lift cables early Friday morning.
The Chicago Fire Department received a call around six in the morning for about six people, including a pregnant woman and two Northwestern law students, locked in an elevator at 875 North Michigan Avenue. The rescue was difficult because the elevator was an express, with very few openings.
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"It was a pretty precarious situation, in which we had broken cables over the elevator," said Patrick Maloney, chief of the Chicago Fire Brigade. "We could not perform elevator lift rescue.We had to cross a wall on the 11th floor of the parking garage in order to open the elevator doors."
Fire officials said the group had just left the Signature Room restaurant, located on the 95th floor, after hearing noises and making a quicker and more bumpy exit than expected.
Luis Vasquez had visited the Signature Room with his friends. After taking another elevator and not seeing his friends on the floor, he soon realized that something was wrong.
"My friends have been last to go down," Vasquez said. "At first we thought they were on the 96th floor, but after 20 minutes they found out that they were on the 12th floor."
Firefighters said the car had stopped moving between the 11th and 12th floors. Firefighters crossed a brick wall more than 10 floors above the ground from a garage to reach them.
The rescue took about two hours. Everyone came out safely. The trapped people were very grateful to the firefighters.
At the same time, fire officials said the situation was not dangerous, even though two cables broke, as many other cables were still attached.
ABC WLS radio station in Chicago on Friday communicated with building officials. Officials said that the elevator and two others would be closed until repairs are made and officials understand what has happened.
Associated Press and Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
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