Shimla: Five tourists had a harrowing experience after being stuck up for about 2 hours in the a HP Tourism operated lift that links The Mall Road with the Circular Road which the British called the Cart Road in the heart of the city.
“All the tourists stuck up in the lift have been rescued,†said Sonal Agnihotri, SP Shimla who supervised the rescue operation. The rescue was conducted using flashlights and ended at 8.35 p.m. today.
The lift is operated by HP Tourism Development Corp., and is conveniently used by commuters and tourists to reach The Mall after having parked the vehicles on the spaces created on the lower road.
The over three decade old lift had not been able to keep pace with the number of people who want to use the facility, despite the stiff charges levied.
Reports of the lift having given trouble in the past few weeks, it has not been declared unsafe as in peak tourist time, the demand for using the facility can be gauged by the long queues of tourists and others seen waiting to use it.
As Editor, Ravinder Makhaik leads a team of media professionals at Hill Post.
Spanning a career of over two decades in mass communication, as a Documentary Filmmaker, TV journalist, Print Media journalist and with Online & Social Media, he brings with him a vast experience. He lives in Shimla.
Was it unexpected? One does not need to be an M Tech in Erection Engineering to discover that this ramshackle, wretched thing has been overworked than all the mules of Shimla put together.
Preliminary reports but the number of tourists trapped at 5 but later it has turned up that there were 13 persons trapped in the overloaded lift chamber.
The hapless victims were stuffed together for over 3 hours