The Rides Of Life

Attended to this case. Came out in The New Paper. hmm, so far, 3 cases i attended to came out in the papers. All freak accidents. haha. enjoy... =P



HE HAD THE RIDE OF HIS LIFE

Hotel lift shoots to the roof. Injured man rescued more than 3 hours later

YOU'VE got to hand it to Mr Terence Arthur Matthews.

He had a frightening ride in a lift when it suddenly shot up 22 storeys and crashed into the top of the shaft. He was injured and trapped for about three hours.

But his humour remained intact despite the ordeal.

According to rescuers from the Singapore Civil Defence Force, who reached Mr Matthews through a 50cm by 50cm hatch in the roof of the lift, he greeted them with a smile.

'The first thing he said when he saw us was 'Thank God you're here',' recalled Staff Sergeant Norazni Diron, 26, a Fast Response Paramedic.

Mr Matthews was out of breath and dizzy by then, but he could crack a joke. And he was still at it when The New Paper met him at the Singapore General Hospital yesterday.

'My head crashed onto the ceiling, then I fell back on the elevator floor. I must have fallen on my bum because it's all bruised now,' he said, laughing.


Mr Matthews, a 1.83m 103kg Canadian, was thrown around when the lift suddenly malfunctioned last Saturday.

The 56-year-old senior vice-president of sales and marketing at water treatment company Hyflux was at the Peninsula Excelsior Hotel on Coleman Street to meet a client.

Around 3pm, he stepped into one of three lifts on the ground floor of the hotel to make his way to the second-storey lobby.

Then the lift suddenly shot up with its inner doors still open. It's all a blur to the man now, but he recalled that the doors closed as the lift ascended.

'I tried pressing buttons on the different floors hoping the lift would stop, but the next thing I knew, there was a terrific crash as it hit the top,' Mr Matthews said.


He estimated that the whole journey lasted about 15 seconds. 'I obviously wasn't timing it,' he added.

It's a wonder that this man can see anything funny in what happened to him, because he's being tested for head and spine injuries. Doctors suspect he might have a compound fracture in his spine. He is not able to sit up, let alone walk.

He had been stuck for about an hour before the SCDF were called, and even then the caller only asked for an ambulance. During that time apparently no alarms went off.

After paramedics from the Central Fire Station nearby arrived and assessed the situation, they called in the Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart).

'During the one hour, a voice came on through the lift's intercom thrice to ask 'Are you there?',' Mr Matthews said, rolling his eyes.

Finally, Staff Sgt Norazni and two other officers climbed on the top of another lift and moved into the one in which he was stuck.

About 15 officers in all were involved in the rescue.

About two hours later Mr Matthews, fastened to a stretcher and stabilised to prevent further injury to his back, was taken out through the opening in the lift ceiling.

'He was in a lot of pain, so we had to move really slowly,' said Captain G Gobiselven, Officer Commanding of the Central Fire station.

Mr Matthews was glad he managed to squeeze through the small opening.

'I was worried because the hole looked small and I'm not the smallest person around,' he said.

'I have to hand it to the rescuers. It takes some bravery for these guys to go up there and do what they did.'

Mr Mohamed Sham Hussein, the hotel's front office manager told The New Paper this morning that the incident was being investigated and seemed to be 'an isolated incident'.

He added that this particular lift was about four to five years old and was last checked on Jun 10. He said that the other lifts had also been checked.

It is believed to be the first incident of its kind in Singapore.

posted by de @ 7:58 PM