Firefighters used a lever to free several families with young children after they were trapped in a lift at a major Melbourne tourist attraction over the weekend.
Twelve people were trapped in the lift at Melbourne’s SEA LIFE Aquarium at 1.40pm on Sunday. A child in the elevator vomited as a result of stress and rising temperatures within the confined space.
Melbourne SEA LIFE Aquarium on the Yarra River. Credit: Ken Irwin
Melbourne man Josh Zuker told The Age he was visiting the aquarium with his four-year-old son when they entered the elevator with 10 more people, including four young children.
The elevator doors did not open once he had reached his destination on a lower level. The helpline contacted via the elevator call button could barely be heard and Zuker had a limited telephone reception to call emergency services.
Melbourne man Josh Zuker was trapped in an elevator with his four-year-old son for more than 40 minutes on Sunday.
“There was a baby who was a month old, crying,” he said. “One of the other kids started hyperventilating. There was no water, no air, nothing. It started to get hot pretty fast.
“We had almost no signal, I was just on Facebook Messenger addressing a lot of people, and when I called my partner, I had to put the phone up to the ceiling to see if it could happen.”
Zuker said the group was told it would be a nearly hour-long wait, and his annoyance increased as an operator continued to ask how the families were trapped, but did not update them on the progress of emergency services. .
Fire Rescue Victoria confirmed that it sent two units, including a specialized rescue team to free those trapped in the elevator.