Posted on 06/09/2014 4:03:39 PM PDT by rickmichaels
For most people, the scariest part of riding an elevator is the thought that it could suddenly plummet from great heights.
One man in Chile had the exact opposite (but equally terrifying) experience Friday, after an elevator he was riding in suddenly rocketed upwards out of control.
According to the Chilean news service Emol, 31-year-old José Vergara Acevedo entered the elevator on the first floor of a building at Bustamante Community Park in Providencia.
He presses a button to ascend, but you can already see there are problems as the elevator takes off without the doors having fully closed.
But when the doors open again mid-ride, it becomes clear to Acevedo that something is seriously amiss.
He presses the emergency stop button, then frantically begins to hammer every button on the panel, hoping to halt the elevator’s speedy ascent – but to no avail.
In 15 seconds, the elevator rises past all of the building’s 31 floors, before violently slamming into the roof of the elevator shaft.
According to reports from Chilean media, Acevedo was seriously injured in the collision, and had to be taken to hospital with head and leg injuries.
I met my last wife on an Elevator, too bad it wasn’t this one. Would have been less painful, for both of us.
**In 15 seconds, the elevator rises past all of the building’s 31 floors**
So 310 feet (average story=10 feet) in 15 seconds.
According to one online calculator that’s 42mph.
WOW!
A counterweight probably went into free-fall.
AWAWAWAAAARGHHHHHH!!
There are still supposed to be safety braking systems functioning which in that instance may not stop the elevator but should have kept it from attaining that speed.
She was on a gurney being transported to another floor and as she was being wheeled into the elevator, it fell, crushing her as she was halfway into the elevator..........
Your math is off it is about 14.09 MPH
Poor guy, that sounds really terrifying.
In my less mature moments, I’ve been known to jump up and down in fast moving elevators..whether going up or down, it creates a really strange sensation. My kids showed me how in the 100-floor John Hancock Bldg in Chicago.
Good grief did Cloe hack into the elevator computer??
Cables broke?
Mine too. But that’s a Wonkavator, not an elevator.
As someone else alluded to, if enough safety inspections are skipped anything can happen.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/04/21/080421fa_fact_paumgarten?currentPage=all
Delta V is what causes injury.
BTDT. 12 story building and the elevator went to the 13th floor. I pushed buttons and it stopped on 5. I walked the steps to the 11th floor for a year after that.
There was a Twilight Zone where something like that happened.
It was be awful to go through this but it could have been worse. Several years ago a doctor in one of the Houston medical center buildings tried to stop an elevator so he could get in. The door closed on his head and jerked it off. I think his head was inside the elevator with some other people but I can’t remember all the details.
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