Seven injured in lift accident in North Point building
Three people in critical condition after all four cables snap and emergency brake fails
Seven people were injured, three critically, in a lift accident in North Point last night.
The accident happened at about 8pm in a commercial building at 480 King's Road. The lift dropped suddenly just after it had passed the first floor on the way up.
All four cables of the lift - which could hold up to 12 people - broke at the same time and the emergency brake also failed to work, said the director of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department, Chan Fan, after an initial inspection.
The seven passengers, aged 30 to 82, were rescued by firemen and taken to hospital in four ambulances.
"It is rare to see all cables break at the same time, and the brake should have worked and prevented this normally," Chan said. A further investigation was needed to find the reason for the accident, he said.
"If there was slight damage to any of the cables, it should have been easily detected [during a maintenance check]."