Eight stranded for two hours in lift at Bhayander station after power failure

At least eight commuters were stranded in a lift for two hours at Bhayander station in Mumbai after the power supply was switched off for maintenance work on Friday and therescue device of the lift failed to functionThe commuters endured darkness and sweltering heat during this ordealThe incident came to light on Tuesday after a video of the situation went viral on social mediaThe Western Railway stated that it had heavily penalised the lift company for improper maintenance under warrantyOne of the victims stranded in the lift shared their experience saying that no Standard Operating Procedures SoP were followed and for nearly an hour no one came to their rescue leaving them trapped in the dark and unbearable heat inside the liftEight passengers including seniors and women were trapped in a lift at Bhayander station for two hours on March 14 after a power cut disrupted service and the rescue system malfunctioned Despite repeated calls for help no rescue arrived for nearly an hour leavinghellip pictwittercom2J3oaOCv6rmdash Mid Day mid_day March 18 2025ldquoWe had come to Mumbai as tourists and after taking the train ride we got into the lift at Bhayander station to go up on the bridge There were about eight of us including ladies and senior citizens As the lift started it went up for some distance then suddenly came down After that there was a power cut and we were left in the dark There were no alarm buttons or anything inside We tried calling the helpline numbers inside the lift but no one answered for a long time Everyone was in panic mode The heat inside was unbearable and we were suffocating The senior citizen was in a bad state his situation was worsening in the sweltering heat After some time someone finally answered the call and said they would send help in 10 minutes but no one came immediately Eventually they tried to open the door as the oxygen levels were dropping The door was opened slightly and we had to slide out through the small gap at the top to save ourselves If the senior citizen had been alone he would have died after so much effortrdquo said Makbul a JCB operator who was one of the passengers stuck in the liftA Western Railway spokesperson explained ldquoThe Bhayander PF1 lift was stuck when the electric supply was disconnected for maintenance purposes In the event of a sudden power failure the lift should automatically switch to rescue mode and the door should open However due to a defect in the rescue device this function did not work properly The lift is an Omega Ahmedabad make and is under warranty It was commissioned on March 31 2024rdquoThe spokesperson continued ldquoIt is part of the monthly check schedule for lifts and the last inspection was conducted on February 24 2025 According to records the rescue device was functioning normally at the time of the check For this malfunction the firm is being heavily penalised for improper maintenance under warrantyrdquoldquoThe Railway staff was already at Bhayander and the lift company staff was also called It took longer than usual to open the door due to a technical fault in the battery of the auto rescue devicerdquo the spokesperson added