Bhubaneswar, May 24: A 35-year-old pregnant woman was trapped inside an elevator at Fortune Towers here for nearly an hour following a power failure. She was rescued after her office colleagues broke the glass walls of the elevator.

Eyewitnesses said the incident took place around 9.45am when 10 people, including the woman, got into the elevator on the ground floor. While going up, the elevator got stuck between the first and second floors when the building experienced a power failure. Those trapped inside started panicking and made phone calls to their office staff. Soon, a large crowd had gathered on the nearby floors.

After some time, some of the woman’s colleagues broke the glass walls of the elevator. Everyone, except the pregnant woman, escaped unscathed. The woman, Smita Dash, who works as a front office executive in a steel company, said she had to call her office staff as electricity went off as the elevator was moving.

The employees of all the companies inside the building, who had thronged the spot, said the building was maintained by the government-run Industrial Development Corporation of Orissa (Idco). The employees alleged that Idco staff did not properly look after the functioning of the elevator and other essential amenities and such mishaps have become routine affair.

They also alleged they had requested the maintenance and security staff to urgently help persons stuck inside the elevator to get out, but the building officials did not respond which delayed the rescue operation.

On the other hand, the building security staff alleged that the agitated people in the crowd had manhandled them when they came to rescue the trapped persons. Subhranshu Parida, electrician of the building said that whenever there is a power failure, it generally takes them nearly five minutes to make the elevator work.