20 People Get Trapped in Tokyo Skytree Elevator for 6 Hours

Tokyo, Feb. 23 (Jiji Press)–Twenty people were rescued in the early hours of Monday after being trapped in an elevator of the Tokyo Skytree tower in the Japanese capital’s Sumida Ward for about six hours, with no reported injuries or health issues. At around 8:15 p.m. on Sunday, the elevator that was descending from the Tokyo Skytree observation deck stopped about 30 meters above the ground. All those inside were rescued at around 2 a.m. on Monday. The operator of the facility decided to close the observation deck throughout Monday to conduct full inspections and investigate the cause of the incident. The entrance fee will be refunded to those who made reservations for the day. According to the operator and the Metropolitan Police Department, there are four elevators at the Tokyo Skytree tower and two of them stopped. Of the two, one was unoccupied, while the other had seven men and 13 women, including two children, inside. For the rescue operation, the elevator that had stopped empty at the 350-meter level, where the observation deck is located, was used. It was lowered to the same height as the other stopped elevator, and a stainless steel plate with handrails was used to reach the emergency door of the elevator with the 20 individuals. They exited the elevator with the assistance of rescue workers. The two elevators were about 1.5 meters apart. The remaining two elevators were also stopped until around 9:35 p.m. Sunday for safety checks, leaving about 1,200 people temporarily stranded on the observation deck. Everyone descended to the ground by 11 p.m. There had been two incidents of people getting trapped inside Tokyo Skytree elevators in the past, in 2015 and 2017. Both were resolved within 30 minutes. The elevators are equipped with drinking water, portable toilets, blankets, lights and other supplies for possible emergencies. The facility operator issued a statement on Monday to apologize for the latest incident, saying, “We deeply regret the prolonged entrapment and the considerable stress and discomfort this must have caused.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]