TRAPPED IN LIFT FOR 17 HOURS

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30978, 7 February 1966, Page 1

TRAPPED IN LIFT FOR 17 HOURS

(New Zealand Press Association! WELLINGTON, February 6. A Ngaio man escaped from an elevator in the Social Security Building, Tory street, at 2 p.m. yesterday after being trapped between floors for more than 17 hours.

He is Gary Wingfield, of Karamu street, a 27-year-old clerk who earns a little extra as a parttime cleaner.

“Next time I take the stairs,” he said.

During his ordeal he climbed through a manhole in the top of the elevator, accidentally smashed the light inside the elevator, fell in attempting to climb back inside, suffered several minor cuts, and slept fitfully in darkness for the rest of the night and most of this morning. Mr Wingfield got into the lift to go down a few floors at 8.45 p.m. last njght. The lift moved only a few feet before it stopped dead. In initial panic he pressed every button he could find and operated every control in the elevator, but nothing would make it elevate. The alarm button drew no response because the only other person in the building that night, the man who cleans the floor below, had already left. In the confined space Mr Wingfield became alarmed at the possible shortage of air. He jumped Several times at the manhole lid and managed to dislodge it.

Then he remembered the operator’s old-fashioned highbacked chair and used it as a step ladder. With its help he wriggled up through the manhole. His flailing feet hit

the fluorescent tube light and he was in darkness. A few minutes amid the wires and cables and darkness on top of the lift convinced him the position was hopeless till morning, so he attempted to climb down. His searching feet failed to locate the chair through the manhole. He fell. Mr Wingfield pulled the upholstered seat from the chair and used it as a pillow on the floor. He slept fitfully. In the morning he had re-

solved the wisest course would be to wait for rescue. However, about 1.30 p.m. growing hunger inspired another attempt. Still in semidarkness he struggled back through the manhole. The door was level with the top of the lift. It did not yield to attempts to force it open. Then Mr Wingfield noticed a small rubber button near his foot. He pushed it. The door opened.