Two people are feared dead after an elevator had a free fall twenty three floors down the NRZ building in Bulawayo.
Information currently trickling in at the site of the accident says that a female employee of the Bulawayo Beitbridge Railway Company housed on the 23rd floor of the building got into the elevator late yesterday evening upon knocking off from work and got stuck in the elevator before it could leave the floor.
The lady is said to have called the local technician from the elevator’s internal communication device. The technician managed to make his way into the lift but on trying to release the lift it lost grip and went on a free fall twenty three floors down.
Since the accident happened after hours no one in the building realised that an accident had occurred until 18 hours later when a colleague of the technician discovered his colleague was not available at his place of duty.
On checking the colleague’s log book that’s when he discovered that he had recorded a call for a stuck lift on the 23rd floor but there was no entry of the result of the accident call.
On investigation he discovered that the lift in question had thumped down to the basement.
Bulawayo fire and ambulance personnel and members of the Zimbabwe Republic Police are currently on site trying to retrieve the bodies of the deceased people.
Information is still coming through and this reporter remains on site as the events unfold.