No Casualties as Skyscraper Elevator Falls 84 Storeys
![](https://admediaryllc.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/samson-creative-91091-unsplash-960x640.jpg)
Formerly known as the John Hancock Center, the fourth tallest skyscraper in the city, located at 875 North Michigan Avenue was the setting for a frightening elevator incident on November 16th. Six people (including two law students and a pregnant woman), boarded the elevator from the 95th floor after dining at the Signature Room restaurant. Things took a frightful turn when one of the ‘hoist ropes’ or elevator cables snapped; leading to a sudden and terrifying descent. The elevator fell 84 floors down and stopped somewhere near the 11th floor.
Fortunately all the passengers were unharmed, so there were no casualties or injuries. This was in large part due to the fact that modern elevators are manufactured with multiple hoist ropes, keeping the elevator car more secure and preventing it from crashing to the ground at high speed. Even so, the six people trapped in the elevator were extremely shaken and they were convinced they would die. According to the law student who was trapped, people were ‘freaking out’. A tourist on board, by the name of Montemayor shared that he and his wife embraced one another as they began praying.
The emergency button was pressed but even so, the six people (Montemayor and his wife, two law students along with two others, one of whom was pregnant) waited to be rescued for 2 and a half hours. Fire fighters were on the scene to help but the rescue was complicated by the fact that the elevator was trapped in a “blind shaft”, meaning there was no door to pry open. The battalion chief of the Chicago Fire Department, Patrick Maloney, acknowledged the difficulty of the situation. Describing it as “precarious” because the cables that broke were on the top meaning an elevator-to-elevator rescue wasn’t possible.
Ultimately the fire fighters opted to breach a wall on the 11th floor of the parking garage, seeing no other resolution. The brick wall was penetrated and a 5-foot-by-5-foot hole was created. This allowed the fire fighters to see the top half of the elevator. Fire Department spokesperson, Larry Langford explained how initially a small hole was drilled into the wall and a small camera attached to a wire was inserted so that the fire fighters could get a proper idea on where the elevator was and which walls would need to be broken to carry out the rescue.
There has been no comment from the building’s general manager, however Greg Cunningham (a spokesperson for the City Buildings Department) has addressed the fact that the specifics of the incident are still unclear and that an investigation is on-going. The elevator in question (along with two others) is presently closed down to attend to repairs and due to the aforementioned investigation.