In a building on the grounds of UMCG in Groningen, 14 staff members and students were inside a lift that fell six floors.
Translation by Traci White
UPDATE: 4:44 p.m., Thursday
According to the Dagblad van het Noorden, only one person who was in the lift sustained injuries in the accident. The lift fell roughly 21 meters inside the building. An emergency system would have been in place to keep the lift from going into a complete free fall
Original story follows below:
Dagblad van het Noorden reports that the people inside the lift were students and staff at UMCG and the University of Groningen. The incident occurred at Antonius Deusinglaan 1, which is part of the Faculty of Medical Sciences. A spokesperson for UMCG told RTV Noord that there were no serious injuries as a result of the fall.
Several people who were inside the lift at the time were taken to the emergency room at UMCG, and several others were treated by emergency responders at the scene. The lift reportedly fell from the sixth floor to the basement. It started on the ninth floor of the building and got stuck on the sixth floor late on Thursday morning. A technician was called to come and fix the lift, and reportedly witnessed the fall.
In a joint statement, the University of Groningen and UMCG stated that the passengers inside the lift were able to receive immediate medical attention following the accident. “The accident is not only a big shock to the people in the elevator, but to all colleagues and students.”
The six other lifts in the same system were immediately put out of service and are being inspected. An investigation is being carried out into what caused the accident.
Photo source: Google Maps
