the goan I network
MARGAO
The firemen, staff and visitors all heaved a sigh of relief after Filomena Fernandes walked out of the lift at around 1.45 pm after an hour and half long ordeal.
It all began when Filomena was coming down the building after visiting the Agriculture department housed in the same building. “When the lift reached the second floor, it made a sudden halt. She did not know what was happening and there was neither a lift man nor any staff around to attend to the lift or respond to the calls of the woman stranded inside,” Fire officer Gill told The Goan.
He continued: “I think the cell phone she was carrying saved her the day. After nothing worked, she called her son-in-law working in Dubai, who in turn got back to many people back home, who finally intimated the incident to the fire services at 1.13 pm.”
Gill had no vehicle at his disposal, with two tenders already out attending to calls, in response to fire and emergency calls, while the third tender stationed at the Multipurpose halls where the EVMs are stored in the strongroom inside. Left with no option, Gill along with his team rushed to the Old Collectorate building with the Quick Response Vehicle, only to realise that no one in the building were aware that a senior citizen was trapped inside the lift. “We initially thought that the lift is stuck for want of power supply. But, we later realised that the building had power supply but the lift was still not moving,” he said.
Gill made a fervent plea to the authorities to shut down the lift or appoint a lift man to avert any untoward incident.
