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Greta’s elevator nightmare
Media Equalizer ^ | January 23, 2014 | Brian Maloney

Posted on 01/23/2015 10:29:54 AM PST by Kaslin

On your list of worst nightmares, where does suddenly-plunging elevator rank?

If not number one, at least in the top five, right?

For Greta Van Susteren, that bad dream suddenly became reality as the car abruptly dropped four floors with no warning at all, then left her and several others trapped between levels with no way out. Lasting 10 frightening minutes, they were finally able to pry the doors open and crawl out.

Incidentally, if a lift is headed uncontrollably to the bottom, the best possible way to survive is to lie flat on the floor.

The incident happened in Hanoi as the Fox News Channel host, Reverend Franklin Graham and several charity workers were headed to the offices of Samaritan’s Purse.

Some of it was filmed, where at one point Reverend Graham quips “if it goes down, I’m going up”:

Stuck in elevator in Hanoi

After escaping, they used the stairs, even though they were on the 24th floor.

Van Susteren later described what happened:

We had just reached the 24th floor when the elevator stopped for no apparent reason….then jerked and jerked…and falling and jerking …and falling and jerking until it stopped. We were all quite rattled as we did not know if it would continue to fall and we had no idea if the cable holding the elevator car was broken and if there were any back up system (this is an oldish building in Vietnam.)

One of us pulled the door apart only for all of us to see the worst — just a solid cement wall. That was really bad news. Then the elevator car started to slip further down and of course we had no idea where that was headed — I feared we were going to break loose and go all the way down which would have been a certain death for all of us. As the elevator car slid down, we made calls and tried pushing all the buttons on the panel.

Suddenly, one of our group noticed some light and pulled the doors open again and this time we had about a 2 foot crawl space. We made a mad scramble to get out and drop to the floor (the 24th). Franklin later told me he feared the elevator would drop again as one of us was getting out which would have meant a certain death for that person. We all made it safely out….walked up the steps to our original destination of floor 32….and then when we left, none of us took the elevator. We walked down 32 flights.

Thankfully, everyone was unhurt, but the outcome could have been quite different.


TOPICS: Front Page News
KEYWORDS: elevator; franklingraham; greta; hanio; vansusteren; vietnam
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1 posted on 01/23/2015 10:29:54 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Someone must have disabled the failsafe — there is a mechanical flywheel that is supposed to keep that from happening (I saw how it works on a Mythbusters episode).

Man, strange.


2 posted on 01/23/2015 10:32:19 AM PST by freedumb2003 (AGW: Settled Science? If so, there would only be one model and it would agree with measurements)
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To: Kaslin

” When Communist Elevators turn on you”


3 posted on 01/23/2015 10:32:51 AM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: Kaslin

Most (Western) elevators have a dynamic braking system that will not allow them to free-fall very far. In the Far East, that may or may not be true, especially if the building is old and/or someone has been paid off to “overlook” certain safety shortcomings ...


4 posted on 01/23/2015 10:34:23 AM PST by IronJack
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To: Kaslin

If I had to be in a falling elevator, I’d rather be with Franklin Graham than Annie Laurie Gaylor.


5 posted on 01/23/2015 10:35:35 AM PST by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Kaslin

“The vast majority of Muslims reject falling elevators” - John Kerry.


6 posted on 01/23/2015 10:39:24 AM PST by Dagnabitt
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To: bigbob

Well played...


7 posted on 01/23/2015 10:40:40 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

Comment #9 Removed by Moderator

To: Kaslin

Imagine that - you go to a third-world Commie craphole and wonder why those things you take for granted in the first-world free market don’t work where you are.


10 posted on 01/23/2015 10:43:37 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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To: Kaslin
Suddenly, one of our group noticed some light and pulled the doors open again and this time we had about a 2 foot crawl space.

That in itself was a dangerous move since someone crawling out could have been crushed if the elevator dropped again.........

A bunch of years ago, the wife of an employee at the company I worked for was in a local hospital. She was on a gurney, being transported to another floor and while she was being wheeled into the elevator, somehow it broke loose and crushed her when she was only half way in.......

11 posted on 01/23/2015 10:45:07 AM PST by Hot Tabasco (I'm a man of no-color and proud of it.)
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Ten whole minutes. Oh, the humanity!


12 posted on 01/23/2015 10:47:21 AM PST by sparklite2
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To: Kaslin
Bet they all had Soiled Knickers. hehehehe
13 posted on 01/23/2015 10:50:34 AM PST by SandRat (Duty - Honor - Country! What else need s said?)
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To: bigbob

I had to look up to find out who she is, and I agree. So would I


14 posted on 01/23/2015 10:50:48 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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To: Kaslin

Some of it was filmed, where at one point Reverend Graham quips “if it goes down, I’m going up”


15 posted on 01/23/2015 10:56:41 AM PST by Perseverando (In Washington it's common knowledge that Barack Hussein Obama is ineligible to be POTUS.)
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To: Kaslin

In Vietnam, elevator takes you.


16 posted on 01/23/2015 10:56:41 AM PST by oblomov (White privilege: the contemporary left's way of saying "the Jews".)
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To: Kaslin
I was at a business convention, parked my car in the parking building and got in the elevator. There were about six of us in this elevator and it stuck. When an emergency happens, I immediately look for the solution to the problem. Other women in there panicked. One man said he was claustrophobic so he was no help.

I looked up and saw panels that I thought could be removed - I was the smallest person in there not in a panic, so I figured the men could lift me up there. About then, it jerked and moved and jerked and moved until it got to a floor and we got out. I didn't use any elevator in that parking building again. You're likely to get help if the elevator is inside a building where people are, but in a parking building, there are no people around.

When stuck like that, the first thing to do is control your panic and look for a way out. Starting that action, reduces panic.

17 posted on 01/23/2015 10:57:51 AM PST by Marcella (Prepping can save your life today. Going Galt is freedom.)
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To: Kaslin

Otis, my man!


18 posted on 01/23/2015 10:59:13 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: sparklite2

I got trapped in an elevator around floor 14 in SF for about 4 hours one time. 4 on the elevator: me, a lady, a flaming F and THE STATE ELEVATOR INSPECTOR who could not believe it took 4 hours to determine we were stuck....seems all the communication devices were either ignored or did not work. They finally cranked us down as we were in a no exit portion of the ride. So, ten minutes in commie land does not sound extreme to me.


19 posted on 01/23/2015 11:02:32 AM PST by Mouton (The insurrection laws perpetuate what we have for a government now.)
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To: Marcella

Re the last part of your post: Panicking is never good


20 posted on 01/23/2015 11:07:18 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
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