CHICAGO — People rescued from a trapped elevator in one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers later learned they had dropped 84 floors.
The Chicago Tribune reported Monday that six people, including a pregnant woman, got into the elevator early Friday after leaving a restaurant on the 95th floor of the 875 North Michigan Avenue building, formerly the John Hancock Center. They heard noises and experienced a faster and bumpier than expected ride.
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Jaime and Maña Montemayor, a married couple that was in the elevator, told the newspaper that they heard a “clack clack clack” sound after going inside.
“I knew something wasn’t OK,” Maña Montemayor said.
“I thought we were going to die,” the other added.
One of several cables holding the elevator broke and the car fell rapidly, landing somewhere near the 11th floor.
Firefighters broke through a wall more than 10 stories above ground from a parking garage to reach the people who were trapped inside.
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“It was a pretty precarious situation, where we had the cables that were broke on top of the elevator,” Chicago Fire Department Battalion Chief Patrick Maloney said, according to ABC News.
Maloney explained they had to cut a hole in the wall of the 11th floor in order to access the stuck elevator.
The elevator and two others will be closed until repairs are made and officials figure out what happened.
— With files from Global News Reporter Maham Abedi