Original subtitles

Narrator: When was the last time you stepped into an elevator?

Was it today?

Was it yesterday?

Think about the elevators you encounter each day

While you head to your doctor's appointments,

Office building, school, and shopping centers.

Elevators are everywhere.

Riding in an elevator

Has become just as routine as driving a car.

In a big city, on average,

A person rides in an elevator four times a day.

These marvels of engineering have become

So integrated into our world,

We don't even realize how much we rely on them.

But how safe are they?

Footage has emerged of elevators spiraling out of control.

There was no getting access to the people.

Kenny: He will literally be considering

That he's facing potential death.

Leembruggen: I was like, "whoa.

Did we actually just drop eight floors?"

Narrator: With the help of industry experts,

We'll explore why these accidents happen.

Melissa: The fire department said the elevator can shift,

It can drop, so you have to stay in there.

Narrator: Discover how engineers

Are tackling these horrifying tragedies

And meet the people who unexpectedly become

Trapped inside an elevator.

Nervick: This is literally the last person in the world

To be stuck in an elevator with.

-- Captions by vitac -- www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

Narrator: Today, as the world's urban population explodes

And our modern cities become denser

And more crowded than ever, elevators have become

An indispensable mode of transportation.

These seemingly reliable feats of engineering

Are so integrated into our environment,

We barely notice their existence.

Out of the millions of rides taken by humans every year,

Only about 30 elevator-related fatalities have occurred,

And yet accidents still happen.

On March 2nd, 2014,

Tamara siebert and her 110 pound dog, fedo,

Enter her condo building's elevator on the 11th floor.

As tamara hits the button for the parking garage,

Everything appears normal.

But then, something unimaginable happens.

As the elevator descends,

Fedo suddenly flies to the ceiling.

His leash caught between the closed doors,

Surveillance footage captures him pawing

At the elevator doors

As tamara frantically tries to remove his collar to free him.

After a few failed attempts,

Tamara hits the emergency stop button,

Hoping that something will happen.

The alarm goes off, but the doors don't open,

Desperate tamara continues to pull it fedo's collar,

Trying with all her strength to release him.

After what seemed like an eternity,

The leash snaps and fedo drops to the floor.

Luckily, he was not seriously injured

And tamara walked away with only a few broken fingers.

And yet this isn't the only instance of a dog's leash

Getting caught in a moving elevator

In greenville, south carolina, hotel manager ben duke...

Good morning. How are you today?

...Was just starting his day

When he came across something very unusual.

I was working in my office, and when I was coming out,

A guest was in the process of checking out of the hotel.

As he entered the elevator,

He had his dog on a retractable leash

And forgot that his dog had not entered the elevator with him.

The guy started going up and the dog stayed down,

Narrator: Realizing the imminent danger the dog was in,

Ben sprang into action.

Duke: First thing I did was I grabbed him and picked him up

And I was trying to unhook the leash,

But I was being pulled back to the elevator by his core.

It was freaking out the whole time.

I mean, it was barking and it was yelping.

It actually, like, scratched me across the face,

But if I let it go and just let nature happen,

That would have been terrible results.

Narrator: Unable to unhook the dog's collar,

Bin had to resort to brute force

As the cord was going up higher and higher,

I finally realized I needed to break it,

So I grabbed it and broke the leash.

It lasted for probably 10 seconds,

But it seemed a lot longer than that.

Narrator: So, how did both fedo and this dog's leash

Get stuck in the elevator doors undetected?

Many lifts will have sensors in the door that detect

If somebody is in the door itself,

They may not always detect a very small item

Or a very thin item like a dog's lead.

♪♪

Narrator: Some modern elevators have infrared light sensors

Installed on both sides of the doors.

When a passenger enters,

The emitter generates a single beam of infrared light,

Which scans the object from top to bottom.

If a laser is blocked, the door will be stopped immediately.

However, the size of the object crossing the doorway

Has an impact on the detection range.

The sensitivity starts at two inches from the bottom.

We don't want to block a door for every time somebody drops

A candy wrapper or a cigarette butt, you know?

That leash is lying on the base, basically on the ground.

And normally that would not have occurred

Were the leash being held up here,

You know, let's say 10, 20 inches off the ground.

Narrator: Thanks to ben's quick reaction,

Both the owner and his dog

Checked out of the hotel unharmed.

Duke: I don't know if it was adrenaline

Or if it luckily caught in the right spot in the elevator

Or if it was divine interaction. I don't know.

I know something happened, and that dog got free.

The owner comes back down the elevator, grief-stricken.

He thought he'd killed his dog.

Luckily, I was able to show him that his dog was okay,

And he was he was just very, very happy at that point.

When you're interacting with a lift with dogs, pets,

Small children, elderly people,

Anybody that might be slightly vulnerable,

You need to be careful of what you're doing.

Carrajat: People have to be more aware of their surroundings.

They have to be aware that this is a possibility.

This can happen.

Duke: Hopefully, most people in that situation

Would react the same way

And try to rescue another living creature.

Narrator: Aside from the occasional mechanical problem,

Elevators are one of the safest modes of transportation.

Statistics show that only one in 12 million elevator rides

Results in some kind of incident,

Usually a minor fault, such as doors failing to open.

And yet while they are safe,

Reports of injuries are still possible,

Especially involving children.

In gwangju city, china,

Closed-circuit camera footage captures a young girl

Standing inside an elevator.

What the recording doesn't show is that before entering,

The girl and her brother tied one end of a plastic cord

Around themselves to see what would happen

When the elevator traveled to a lower floor.

And that's when this supposedly innocent game

Took a horrible turn.

As the elevator descended.

The girl was pulled to the ceiling by the cord

And then suddenly dropped back down.

Only moments later, the young girl's brother realized

Something had gone wrong and raced down the stairs

To help his sister.

Thankfully, the girl escaped and suffered only minor injuries.

♪♪

But doors closing on undetectable objects

Is not the only hazard passengers face

When entering or riding in an elevator.

♪♪

A lift can fail for all sorts of reasons.

If you think about a lift for one moment,

It is a box traveling at speed up and down a shaft.

It's got electricity, it's got height,

And it's got mechanical devices.

♪♪

Narrator: Mark fairweather is at an engineering testing facility

To explain how an elevator works and identify the warning signs

Of a possible mechanical failure.

Fairweather: So, this is the lift machine room.

We're now above the lift shaft with everything below us.

You have a lift car, and on top of the lift car is ropes.

The ropes come up over this sheath,

This pulley, and back down again.

They go back down to the end of a counterweight.

So, you have a counterweight,

You have a car, and you have ropes,

And that is the basics of the lift.

The lift car stays in position by tracks in the shaft

So it won't move, same as train tracks.

It has to be driven by something up or down,

And this here is the motor. You have to have a break

Because when the lift comes to stop a landing,

You need to make sure it's secure.

One other very important bit of equipment

Is the overspeed governor.

It's a fundamental safety device.

And what happens is if the lift starts to travel over?

It's rated speed, the safety governor

Cranks and stops the ropes,

The safety gear engages onto the guide rails,

And the lift will come to a halt.

Narrator: Undoubtedly, the emergency brake

Is a vital safety feature,

But, sometimes, an emergency stop could lead

To an entirely new problem.

What happens to the passengers

If they were to suddenly become trapped inside an elevator?

We press the call button.

We were on the phone with the lady,

But the guy started just freaking out.

I knew that this is literally the last person in the world

To be stuck in an elevator with.

♪♪

Narrator: When it comes to elevators, the sky's the limit.

This engineering innovation has transformed the way

In which people interact with the world, how we move,

And how our modern cities are constructed.

Fairweather: The population of the world is growing,

So, the only way that we can all get on and thrive in a city

Is to basically build upwards.

And, so, to go up, you need lifts.

Narrator: In the united states, over 900,000 elevators

Are in operation.

Each makes 18 billion passenger trips per year.

The invention of the elevator dates back to roman times,

Where they were used to move goods and animals

Into the coliseum,

But no one thought of transporting people until 1854

When elijah otis made a breakthrough.

Fairweather: He stood up at the great exhibition in new york

On a wooden platform, and he said,

"I'm going to prove to you that traveling lift is safe."

And he stood there and he had a gentleman cut the only rope.

The left fell two inches before what was then

The very first form of safety gear engaged.

And he declared, "all is safe, gentlemen. All is safe."

Narrator: However, even with the modern version

Of otis's safety device in place,

Elevators can still travel a significant distance

Before the safety gears engage.

♪♪

In toronto, canada,

Nick nervick was heading to a friend's house

When disaster struck.

Nervick: It was a Sunday around 12:00.

And we're going to watch a basketball or football game.

I was waiting for the elevator, and I remember some other guy

Walking in there with me.

I definitely knew him from the neighborhood,

But didn't think too much of it.

And we got to about the second or third floor.

And then the elevator stopped.

Narrator: After about five minutes into his ordeal,

Nick hits the emergency button and speaks to an operator

Who assures him that help is on the way.

Nervick: We pressed the call button.

We were on the phone with the lady...

And she said that she would send the security guard up

To make sure that everything is okay.

Everything seems like it's going fine.

It felt like they're to help. It was very relieving.

I thought that we were going to be out of there pretty quickly.

Remain calm.

But then the guy that was in the lift just starts freaking out.

Narrator: And that's when the situation went from bad to worse.

Nervick: This guy's freaking out.

It's causing us not to get help.

It's causing us to be stuck. You know what I mean?

I just wanted to try and remain calm.

I knew that this is literally the last person in the world

To be stuck in an elevator with.

[ banging and bell ringing ]

The fact that nick's filming himself is interesting.

First off, it helps him engage in a conversation

With the guy in the lift without directing it at him,

He can't communicate efficiently with the guy,

But he can communicate to the phone, showing the guy

Who's in the left that he's rational

And that he's also present.

[ bell ringing ] and here's the bell again.

We are trying to remain calm, but it is very hard

Because, uh...Yeah.

Most of the auto dialers that you press,

It's a telephone line in effect,

And it normally goes through to a call center.

Those people are trained operatives

Who are trained to keep you calm,

Keep you informed, and let you know what's going on.

Now, it might well be

That what they tell you, you don't want to hear.

They might say that we've dispatched an engineer,

And they're going to be 45 minutes,

45 minutes trapped in a lift

Might not be everybody's cup of tea.

It's very important that you're given accurate information,

But also that you're given it in a way that keeps you calm

And keeps you relaxed.

[ bell ringing ]

Man: Hello.

I don't want management. I want someone to do something!

Operator: Sir, calm down.

Don't tell me to...Calm down!

Hey, miss, yeah, we're pretty calm here.

You want me to calm down? How about I calm you down?

Nick is in one of those really challenging situations.

So, first of all, he is trapped in a lift.

But, unfortunately, at this moment, somebody else

Is trapped in it with him, and he's quite volatile.

[ shouts ]

Narrator: It was at this point when nick starts to panic.

Having trouble breathing here. I don't have my puffer with me.

I think I'm having an asthma attack right now,

I'm a little freaked out, to be completely honest,

And I don't know what to do.

The whole anxiety comes up back that I might die, this and that,

And then it leads to just an overall just state of fear.

Nick is displaying classic signs of panic,

Even though it's quite calm in the initial stages,

And he's using something to cope.

He's using his phone.

As he starts to struggle with his breathing,

He feels out of control in this situation.

He's having an asthma attack,

And you guys aren't doing nothing.

Yeah, I don't have my puffer on me.

After the lady on the intercom was aware

That there is a medical emergency,

She told us and informed us that they were going to send help.

Narrator: Finally, after being trapped for over an hour,

The toronto fire department arrives on the scene.

I'm glad for you to get me out of here.

I've been here for an hour.

Shut up for a second.

Man, first of all, I'm completely calm right now.

I just want to be able to get out of here as soon as possible.

The fire department opened up the door for us.

Two firefighters just each took each of their hands,

And they just pulled me out.

As soon as I got out of there, I just dipped. I left.

I haven't gone back to that building since.

Narrator: Nick still can't forget the stressful events

That transpired.

I still suffer from anxiety due to it.

Whenever I'm about to hop into an elevator,

I always make sure that I look

And see who I'm going in there with.

It's more so the fear of something happening inside

Because you cannot control what another person is doing

When they're stuck in a small environment like that.

Narrator: For nick, getting trapped in an elevator

Was an experience that he'd prefer to forget.

But in providence, rhode island, melissa rogers and her fiancée,

Justin, faced a different scenario.

One of her bridesmaids came up to me, grabbed my arm.

She said, "you need to come this way with me.

Melissa's stuck in the elevator."

♪♪

Narrator: Elevators -- these marvels of engineering

Have become so embedded in our society,

We don't even realize how much we rely on them,

But if used improperly,

A person could suffer serious consequences.

In china, surveillance footage

Shows a boy striking an elevator door

With a martial arts style punch. The dynamic force

Instantly causes the metal doors to give way.

And here a man is seen kicking an elevator door

Out of frustration.

But then once the elevator arrives and he walks in,

The door swings open,

Causing the man to fall to a lower floor.

The lift will open when it arrives at the floor

Because the internal doors indicate to the external doors

That it has arrived.

And so this type of scenario, forcing doors open,

Is very likely to run the risk of falling down a lift shaft.

Narrator: To ensure right or safety,

It's essential to stay calm and be cautious

When using elevators,

Regardless of the extenuating circumstance.

♪♪

In providence, rhode island, melissa roger

Is preparing to marry justin,

The love of her life.

To celebrate their nuptials,

The couple hosts a lavish reception in a ballroom

On the top floor of a hotel.

After the pictures, we decided to kind of separate.

Justin went to the cocktail hour, and I went up

With two of the wedding coordinators in the elevator

And kind of left all my bridesmaids,

And they were supposed to meet me on the next floor up.

We hit the button to go up the one floor,

And as soon as we got in,

There was kind of a shudder and a shake, loud noise,

And I didn't really think anything of it.

When I had asked the wedding coordinators, you know,

"does this happen frequently?" thinking that it was

An old elevator, maybe it breaks down every now and then,

And they said, "no, this never happens."

That's when I got a little nervous

And I started to really think, you know,

"am I going to miss my wedding? How long am I going to be here?"

Lots of things kind of go through your mind

When it's your wedding day, and you're missing it.

10 minutes into the ordeal, melissa manages to make contact

With someone on the elevator intercom.

One of her bridesmaids came up to me,

Grabbed my arm. I kind of turned around.

She said, you need to come this way with me.

Melissa's stuck in the elevator.

As the process went on and the fire department came,

It grew a little bit more of a crowd between the wedding party,

And they decided to have a little cocktail hour

Of themselves outside the elevators.

That's right.

Immediately after they arrive, the fire department

Tries to pry the elevator doors open

And establish contact with melissa.

I could actually see people and talk to people.

And, so, somebody on one of the lower levels passed me

A glass of champagne.

And once the doors open, I was really excited.

I thought, "this is the way out.

Somebody can just lift me out of this little hole."

Man: You can't make this up.

The bride is stuck in the elevator.

Narrator: It's common for a passenger in this situation

To want to jump out of the elevator

Once they see a way out, but, ultimately,

Waiting for instructions is always the safer option.

The fire department did not want melissa to go out the top

Or the bottom in fear of her being cut in half.

Fairweather: If somebody tries to get out

Of the lift when it moves, obviously,

It can act as a guillotine.

Narrator: This footage from inside an elevator in china

Shows just how dangerous an unsecured elevator can be.

As a woman walks in, the doors suddenly close

And the car moves upwards,

Ensnaring her leg the entire time

As she reaches the top of the doorway.

Her leg breaks.

As she desperately tries to free herself,

The elevator continues to travel upwards for three floors

Until it finally comes to a stop.

♪♪

To avoid a similar catastrophe, melissa was told to stay put.

The safest method is always to get the lift

As close to floor level as possible,

And when it's at floor level,

Then the person can step out of the lift car.

The fire department,

They ended up stabilizing the elevator.

A technician came.

They turned the system off, rebooted the whole system,

And the elevator rose, and out I came.

The doors opened and walked out like everybody else.

[ all cheering ]

There was a big celebration between family and friends,

And the fire department.

I took pictures with the firemen.

When it was all said and done,

I probably wouldn't change anything.

It really creates a pretty good story.

♪♪

Narrator: Coming up, the chicago fire department receives a call

That six people are trapped in an elevator

At the former john hancock center.

The only problem is the rescue team

Have no idea which floor the elevator's stuck on.

Maloney: So, we arrived on the scene.

We were told that the elevator plummeted from the 95th floor.

The first thing I thought of once I was walking in

Was it wasn't going to be good.

♪♪

Narrator: Chicago, the windy city --

Known for its culture, food,

And is home to one of the world's greatest skylines.

Keeping its citizens safe is the chicago fire department,

Led by battalion chief patrick maloney.

Maloney: Fire is our first priority,

But we go to any technical rescues

Throughout the city of chicago.

Narrator: Daniel truesdale is a member of squad one,

A rescue unit within the department.

Squad one is in charge of confined-space rescue,

Which requires an extremely special set of skills.

There's four squads in the city. We do specialized rescue stuff.

We do rope rescue,

Which is part of the elevator runs, things like that.

Narrator: On November 16th, 2018,

Squad one received an alarming emergency call.

I was in the firehouse doing my journal entry.

[ alarm beeping ]

Woman: 515, 875 north michigan avenue.

At approximately midnight on that date,

They called for a blind shaft rescue response.

5-1-5. [ siren wails ]

Narrator: Six people were trapped in a 100-story skyscraper.

Maloney: Call it a blind shaft in the city of chicago.

It's basically an express elevator

That skips certain floors.

Narrator: Unlike traditional elevators,

Blind shaft elevators are found

In buildings taller than 20 floors high.

Truesdale: Say, for instance, you get in the building

And there's a designated bank of elevators

That will take you directly to the 20th floor.

Between the 20th and the first floor,

That would be considered a blind shaft.

There are no doors, so the first place

That the elevator will open is the 20th floor.

Narrator: The call was to 875 north michigan avenue,

The building formerly known as the john hancock center.

Maloney: So we arrived on the scene.

We were told that the elevator plummeted from the 95th floor

Down to -- we were originally thinking

It was the 16th or 18th floor.

We found out they were at the 11th floor.

The first thing I thought of once I was walking in,

It was, it wasn't going to be good.

You're talking about a free fall of over 900 feet,

Maybe over 1,000 feet.

And that's not even survivable in most cases.

Narrator: Luckily, the passengers inside the elevator,

Including a pregnant woman, were all unharmed.

The fire department's first priority was to determine

How they were going to get the people out.

We were going to do an elevator to elevator rescue,

Coming in off the top of the elevator

And then putting them into the elevator that is working.

I put two squad 1 firefighters in the elevator shaft.

And at that time is when we discovered that we had

A spool of cable on top of the elevator.

Narrator: It was at that moment when the fire department

Identified the cause of the failure --

A snapped cable lying on top of the emergency exit.

Truesdale: We couldn't get on top of it.

There was no getting access to the people.

Maloney: So we came back down and we reassessed,

And then the thought was that we're going to breach a wall.

Truesdale: The elevator just so happened to be

With access to a parking garage area.

So we went into the parking garage,

Drew out our lines to cut out.

Narrator: The team drilled through a brick wall,

Creating a five-by-five-foot hole

Through which they could see the top half of the elevator.

We breached a wall with cutting tools and sledgehammers.

Truesdale: And we cut the cinder block,

Took it all out,

And the elevator just was right there.

Maloney: And we were able to open the door.

Needless to say, they were very gracious

To see the chicago fire department.

Truesdale: We made sure that the elevator was secure,

That it wouldn't move anywhere,

Put a ladder down into the elevator,

And everybody just walked up and out.

Maloney: They were all smiling, hugging each other

And thanking us, which we were very happy to see

That everything turned out to be great.

Narrator: It took squad 1 less than two hours to find

And free the passengers.

But what caused the accident?

It's pretty obvious that there was probably

One or more failures in the lift,

And therefore it went down the lift shaft

In an uncontrolled movement

Before the safety gear engaged.

Narrator: Riders reported hearing loud clunking noises

Just before the elevator stopped.

So it's very likely that this is where the brakes

Are kicking in and trying to slow the car on the rails.

And there are different ways that this happens.

It could be by gripping, or it could be

By wedges going into notches on the rails.

So depending on what their safety system is,

Will depend on the sorts of noises that you hear.

Narrator: So why did the elevator fall such a great distance

Before the brakes kicked in?

Fairweather: If you've got a rated speed of a lift

Of 4 meters per second,

It goes above 4 meters per second,

That's when the safety gear engages.

So it could have traveled quite a long way,

But at some point it broke its rated speed

And therefore the safety gear engaged.

This was not a free fall. This was a controlled stop.

If the elevator free-fell,

You would have had x number of dead people in there.

Narrator: But it's not just snapped cables

That can cause an elevator to drop or suddenly stop.

And sometimes help isn't just around the corner.

In new york city,

Nicholas white couldn't have imagined

That taking a quick break would have ended up

In the longest 41 hours of his life.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: It's Friday night in new york city,

And while most people are heading home for the weekend,

34-year-old nicholas white is working late.

♪♪

He takes the elevator down to the ground floor

And walks outside for a quick smoke break.

Minutes later, he heads back upstairs.

But about halfway up, the elevator suddenly jolts,

The lights go out

And immediately flash back on again.

It was at that moment that nicholas realizes

That the elevator has completely stopped.

He notices the control panel in the elevator

Making a beeping noise.

He anxiously waits to hear someone on the other end

Offer him information or instruction on what to do next.

He waits another few minutes,

Then presses the intercom to call for help.

But there's still no response.

Carrajat: There's a surveillance camera in the elevator.

There's two people allegedly 24/7 watching these cameras.

Nobody responds.

Narrator: As panic starts to set in,

Narrator: Nicholas paces around the elevator.

He hits the emergency button, which sets off an alarm.

He then pulls the button out of the panel,

Which causes the alarm to ring continuously.

And that's when things go from bad to worse.

That elevator became his cage.

Kenny: I imagine what goes through your head

When you're stuck in a lift is a sense that it will only be

A matter of time before somebody finds you.

I mean, you are used to the fact that you work in a building

And that people are coming and going.

But after a few hours,

Obviously that brings some doubts.

♪♪

Narrator: Nicholas desperately searches for a way out.

He tries to pry open the doors and shout for help,

But no one answers his calls.

Kenny: For nick, it's hard to imagine

How the situation is going to get any worse.

He has no food. He has no water.

He has absolutely no help around him.

And he literally doesn't know if he's going to get out.

Fairweather: You are going to get claustrophobic

And you are going to worry about your air supply.

I can reassure you that all lifts have ventilation systems,

And so you're not going to run out of air,

But that doesn't help the feeling of claustrophobia.

Narrator: Nick has now been trapped for over 13 hours.

He occupies his time by trying to remain calm.

He decides not to do anything drastic, like kick down the door

In fear that whatever the malfunction,

He might jostle the car and risk his chances of rescue.

With no way of knowing when someone will come to his aid,

He lies on the floor, drifting in and out of sleep.

Every time he wakes, he finds himself back in his nightmare,

It becomes very confusing

And you learn to feel helpless very quickly

Because everything is beyond your control

And you have no idea of when and where you are

In reality, as far as time goes.

Narrator: After 24 hours,

Nick comes to terms with his stark reality.

Kenny: He doesn't know how long he's going to be in there.

And all of a sudden, he's starting to build in

This potential and possibility

That he might not get found.

He will literally be considering

That he's facing potential death.

♪♪

Narrator: Finally, after being trapped for nearly 41 hours,

Someone spots nick on the security camera.

At 4:00 p.M. On Sunday afternoon,

Nicholas hears a voice on the intercom

Asking if anyone was there.

At last, he was rescued.

As soon as they got a mechanic there, they moved the car.

So it was not something that was a catastrophic failure,

And probably any mechanic from the company

That would have gotten there would have had him out

In 15, 20 minutes.

41 hours?

That just shouldn't happen to a human being.

Narrator: After the terrifying experience,

Nicholas received a settlement from the building.

He never learned why the elevator stopped,

But unbelievably, he still rides in them.

For most, being trapped in a static elevator is scary enough.

But what's it like to be stuck in one that suddenly plummets?

♪♪

In queensland, australia,

Cailem leembruggen and his friends

Are celebrating their high school graduation

In a rented apartment when something very alarming happens.

Narrator: As more people pile into the elevator,

The space inside becomes smaller and tighter.

Suddenly, the elevator begins to plummet towards the ground

At rapid speed.

[ shouting ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: 19-year-old cailem leembruggen and his friends

Were celebrating their high school graduation

In a rented apartment when something unforeseen transpired.

Narrator: As the group crams inside,

Suddenly, without warning, the elevator begins to plummet

Towards the ground at rapid speed.

...Whoa!

Narrator: In that moment, there was only one thing

That was going to stop this elevator --

A buffer. [ screeching ]

A buffer is a safety device

Designed to stop a descending elevator car

That has exceeded its normal weight limit.

Elevator buffers are mounted at the base of an elevator shaft

And provide protection during a malfunction.

Baxter: And that buffer will provide a shock absorber

Which will have cushioned their landing,

Even though the lift was overloaded.

Narrator: In this case, the buffer is what saved

Cailem and his friends' lives.

The car fell eight floors before hitting the buffer

At 90 miles per hour.

Once the elevator stops, someone calls for help.

Um, I think we may have

Possibly overloaded the elevator...

[ laughs ]

Woman: Stop, no, stop!

Narrator: After being trapped for nearly two hours,

A rescue team finally arrives.

Narrator: Later, investigators reported

That the brakes had failed,

Which caused the drop from level eight to the basement.

Luckily, no one was injured.

♪♪

Narrator: Regardless of the odds,

Once you've been stuck in an elevator,

The psychological effects can take its toll,

As in the case of sue collins,

Who hasn't set foot in an elevator for 25 years.

Collins: When I think about getting into a lift,

I immediately feel a panic.

I can't breathe properly, I feel clammy.

I feel as though my heart is beating out of my chest.

Phobias are life-limiting experience,

Which means that you are prevented from doing things

That you would ordinarily as a normal person be able to do.

It can be triggered, and also it can be inherited.

♪♪

Narrator: Sue's fear manifested while riding in an elevator

With her daughter.

We came to the floor we wanted to get out on and the doors --

It only took a second to open,

But in that one second, I panicked and I thought,

"how would I get out of here if these doors don't open?"

And I've never been in a lift since.

Today, sue is meeting with hypnotherapist aaron surtess

In london to confront her fear.

Before treatment, aaron evaluates

How severe her fear truly is.

So here is our lift.

We're at the top of the building here.

Now how are you feeling right now?

At this moment, where I'm stood, I'm okay.

How about if you step to this line here?

Just -- just where that line is there.

Has that got a little bit worse there?

As I get closer, I just feel my heart starting

And I feel panicky and I'm sweating.

Yeah, I just can't even think about...

Okay, let's step back. ...Continuing, going --

Aaron asked me to step

A little bit closer to the lift,

And I started to experience the start of a panic attack.

I hate it. I hate the way it controls my life.

I hope today is the start of me saying no to this phobia.

Hypnotherapy changes and resets the mind.

It reprograms the mind.

You feel calm, confident, and in control,

Taking out the irrational thoughts,

The old loop that creates that fear mentality,

Creating a new loop of "I can, I will."

Open your eyes in their own time

And take a nice, deep breath.

Narrator: Now that the session is complete,

There's only one way to find out if the treatment works.

If I was able to travel in that lift, it would be a miracle.

It would open up parts of my life again

That have been closed to me for a long time.

♪♪

-How are you feeling, sue? -I'm -- I'm really nervous.

-Yeah? -Yeah, yeah.

Take a step. [ whimpers ]

Remember that happy place?

Yes, happy place. Remember that happy place?

Happy place.

We're having excitement.

That nervous excitement can be positive,

Remember that. Yes, yes.

I can't believe I'm in here.

You're doing brilliantly. Oh, my god.

You're doing fantastically.

I was 99.9% sure that that wasn't going to happen.

...Minus one.

And here we are, all the way down.

All the way down.

Here we go. Yeah. Yeah.

You've done brilliantly. Oh, my god.

Fantastic. Thank you so much.

You've done absolutely brilliant --

God, I can't believe it. Oh...

That was amazing. That was brilliant.

I can't believe I've actually just ridden in a lift.

Thank you so, so much.

Sue did brilliantly.

And I think that she will actually just feel happier

Over the coming weeks, months,

That she knows that this phobia has gone completely.

Collins: My life is going to be different

From this moment on.

It's going to be amazing.

Narrator: So what does the future hold for elevators?

Fairweather: The interfaces between people and machines

In everything we do are getting more sophisticated.

Already in our industry, you can walk into the building

And it can do facial recognition

And know who you are, what floor you want to go to,

And it can direct you to the right lift

Without touching any button.

In the future, we may see lifts that move much faster.

We may see lifts that potentially could move

In different directions.

Fairweather: It's been labeled as a willy wonka lift

Where basically you have lifts that go vertically

And horizontally with many in the shaft,

And they go up and they go across.

If you can help the flow of people into a building

And out of a building more successfully,

Then you get efficiency,

And then you get a better lift system.

In our industry, if you don't notice the lifts,

Then actually we've done a great job.

♪♪