Sharjah: Seven people sustained severe to moderate injuries when a malfunctioning elevator in their residential building took them up to the 10th floor and then hurtled them to the ground.
The elevator plunged from the 10th floor while they were using it to go to their apartments, police sources told Gulf News.
The police sources said the seven people were residents of a building in the Al Butaina area of Sharjah.
"Three of the injured were admitted to Al Qasimi Hospital while the other four were admitted to Al Kuwait Hospital," police said.
Police said the incident took place on Friday at about 5pm.
Police said the incident happened when the people entered the elevator, which suddenly went to the 10th floor and then plummeted to the ground floor.
One of the injured from the Philippines told Gulf News that the elevator in their building was not working properly.
"We had complained several times to the owner of the building for maintenance to be carried out but all our calls fell on deaf ears," said the resident.
"Our building needs maintenance and the elevator too. We always felt it was dangerous. When we asked about any maintenance to be done to the building, especially the elevator, no one would listen to us," he added. He said this was not the first incident involving the lift and it also used to stop when residents were using it.
"We were afraid to use it but we had no choice," he said. Police said the three injured who were admitted to Al Qasimi Hospital sustained moderate injuries and were treated in the hospital and left the same day.
Some other residents said that when the elevator gave way they heard a loud noise.
"We thought the building was collapsing. Most of the building's residents left their apartments to see what was going on," said one tenant.
He said it took a few seconds to discover that there were people stuck inside the elevator as they were all screaming and crying.
"The police along with the ambulance and civil defence arrived at the scene to rescue the people," he said.
