‘We could have perished’: Elderly Melburnians ‘traumatised’ after train station lift ordeal

A woman who was trapped in an elevator with six other adults and a child says she feared for her life.

Pamela Hine and her husband were on their way home after the Collingwood AND Brisbane game last Thursday when the lift they were in at Southern Cross Station broke down.

The phone and fan in the elevator didn’t work, and there was no mobile phone reception, so the occupants were trapped for more than 40 minutes.

It was 29 degrees on Thursday, and stifling hot in the lift.

“My husband collapsed on the floor, he’s 86,” Ms Hine told Tony Jones, filling in for Neil Mitchell.

“We could not breathe.

“We were all terrified.

“We thought we could have perished in the lift.”

After trying for more than half an hour to alert someone to their situation, a woman in the lift managed to get mobile phone signal and phoned Triple Zero.

Fire crews attended and managed to pry open the door three inches and pass water to the stranded people, and, eventually, to free them.

“We were all terrified,” Ms Hine said.

“It’s negligence at the highest level.”

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