Cattered in the elevator by the blackout: « I have shouted as a desperate one, but nobody listened to me » | Economy

Ana María and her husband have remained somewhat less than an hour trapped in the elevator of her building, in the Madrid neighborhood of Low Palomeras, after The worst electric blackout in the recent history of Spain He has left the entire Iberian Peninsula without light. « I have shouted as a desperate, but nobody listened to me, » he said when one of Azor’s technicians, a maintenance and installation company in Madrid, has managed to get the couple. Ana María has been one of the first people to be rescued by technicians from this company, who until three in the afternoon had received « one hundred and peak » of similar incidents, according to a company worker. Like her, hundreds of people have been held at elevators.

There are still no official figures of how many people have run the same fate. In Madrid, the mayor, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, said in RNE that there are at least “150 incidents reported in elevators”. Until five in the afternoon, firefighters have rescued 174 people. « Be very careful to open them, please, » he said, and has asked citizens to come to the police stations to inform if there are cases.

« Keep calm. There is oxygen »

Similar testimonies such as Ana María’s happen in different Spanish cities. The iconic Halo de Vigo elevator, a symbol of the local government of Abel Caballero, has left users trapped. The huge futuristic structure, which saves a 50 -meter slope between streets, has two cabins with capacity for 17 people each. Very close to this place, neighbor Sergio Fernández tries to open the door of the elevator of his building, with caught neighbors. He has followed the indications of 112 Galicia, which has explained by the X network that it is to keep the calm of the enclaustradas and are explained that « the air does not end. » « Keep calm. There is oxygen. Notice through the emergency button. If the elevator lacks this system, call 112, » they indicated as instructions in their tweet.

To Teresa, Pilar and Ángeles the blackout has caught them in the elevator, at the house of one of them in Zaragoza. They have remained locked up an hour until a neighbor has heard them and has managed to contact firefighters because they had no coverage. Finally, they have been rescued healthy and saved. So far, the emergency services of Aragon have communicated 23 rescues.

A group of six people, five students and a teacher, have also been trapped for two hours in an elevator at the LCI design and visual arts school in Barcelona. The emergency bell was out of service, so they have had to contact people from outside out. Some of the trapped students have suffered anxiety attacks due to claustrophobia and lack of air. « I have started crying, » says Clara.

It has not been the only affected elevator because, next door has also stopped at a similar height and the two students who have been trapped inside have begun to scream and hit. When some outside teachers have noticed the situation, they have tried, without success, contact emergency services. Although by protocol they could not act (since if the light returned suddenly a breakdown could occur on the doors), finally, a group of teachers has made use of a metallic object to force the elevator’s doors and release the six people trapped.

Emergency services in Catalonia focus on evacuating people trapped in trains, subway and elevators. The Valencia consortium has reported, on the other hand, that the notices for elevator rescue already exceeded fifty at the beginning of the afternoon, according to Efe.