Ang Mo Kio lift shot up 17 floors, trapping a maid

It seems like a scene from a horror movie involving a lift that has a life of its own.

An Indonesian maid had the fright of her life inside a lift in Ang Mo Kio when it went out of control and shot up 17 floors suddenly.

The incident on Monday evening (March 7) put Ms Evi Lisnawati, 36, in a desperate situation which became more agonising for her when she was then trapped in the elevator for about an hour and a half, reported Lianhe Wanbao.

Ms Evi, 36, entered the lift on the fifth storey at Block 317 in Ang Mo Kio Street 31 at about 7.15pm as she had to pick up her employer's two children.

When the elevator reached the ground floor, it opened its doors but only partially. Then they closed back, she told Lianhe Wanbao.

She pressed the "door open" button but the function did not work. Instead, the lift moved up to the third floor and stopped for about two seconds, she said.

Then it shot up very quickly to the 20th floor, said Ms Evi in the Chinese newspaper's report.

She slumped on the floor after being "thrown in the air" as it stopped suddenly. It then descended a little, hovering between the 19th and 20th storeys.

She dropped her mobile phone when she fell but used it to call her employer to tell her what had happened. Residents, who could see her legs through the lift doors, tried to help at around 7.30pm. But could not force the doors open, she said.

The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) managed to free her with the help of a lift technician by 9pm.

Although she still felt some pain, she refused to go to the hospital. The experience was so traumatic that she could not sleep until late on Monday night.

A spokesman from the Ang Mo Kio Town Council told The Straits Times that it is investigating the incident.

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chenj@sph.com.sg