Technical Safety BC and Metro Vancouver Transit Police are investigating how a middle-aged man on a mobility scooter managed to fall down an elevator shaft at a Canada Line station Monday Night.
According to Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services Assistant Chief Dan Stroup, it happened around 7:30 p.m. at the Yaletown-Roundhouse station.
“A person had driven their scooter through the elevator door and landed on top of the elevator car, 30 feet down,” said Stroup.
Firefighters called in a high-angle rope rescue team, but were able to free the man without their assistance.
Amazingly, the victim escaped with just bumps and bruises, said transit police Sgt. Clint Hampton.
“It’s quite a bizarre story, and I can certainly say I’ve never heard of anything like this in my nine years of policing,” said Hampton.
“The silver lining here is that despite taking quite a fall, he walked away with only minor injuries.”
But Hampton said officials are still concerned about how the man actually fell into the shaft.
“What occurred was a man on a motorized scooter, he had hit the elevator doors at the station at a fairly high rate of speed,” he said.
“This caused the doors to open in some manner, and unfortunately he actually fell down the elevator shaft.”
Technical Safety BC deployed a safety officer to the scene, and has taken the elevator out of service until it concludes its investigation.