A man who spent seven hellish hours trapped inside a lift overnight has spoken out about the ordeal, saying he thought he was going to die.
Paralegal Azizul Rayhan, 27, feared for his life when he became trapped in the lift at the Victory Business Centre in Portsmouth at around 10.45pm earlier this month.
Mr Rayhan thought the faulty elevator may plummet, or that he would run out of air and suffocate as he sat waiting for help.
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"It was a very horrible experience. I thought the wires had severed or cut down, and I was going to fall down," he explained.
"I thought something bad would happen to me, like I might even die, because I did not know if there was enough oxygen in there."
Mr Rayhan became stuck inside the lift after he pressed the ground floor button. Instead of descending as normal, it moved slightly before shuddering and shaking. Mr Rayhan rang the emergency button, but no help came.
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"If it worked, I would have been out of there in 30 minutes or so," he added.
"I was screaming the whole night for help, but no-one was around."
Mr Rayhan even attempted to escape the lift by prising open the door with his keys. While he managed the first door, the second was too heavy and he was unable to open it.
Finally, after seven hours inside, he was rescued at 5.45am the next day by business centre employee, Mark Parratt.
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Following the traumatic experience, the paralegal thinks he has developed claustrophobia and a fear of confined spaces. He has also been referred to talking therapy by his GP.
"I was still shaking when I was rescued," he says
"I couldn’t talk for 30 minutes afterwards. It was the most horrible night of my life and my mental suffering is indescribable."
Portsmouth City Council has apologised to Mr Rayhan, adding that a specialist lift contractor checks the mechanism and phone alert system every two months, but both developed independent faults since June. They have confirmed it is now working again.
A spokesman said: "We fully understand what an awful experience this must have been for this gentleman and have every sympathy with him.
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"The lift malfunctioned and no phone alert was triggered when the gentleman pressed the alarm button.
"An alarm did ring on-site. The business centre is open 24 hours, but no-one was around to hear this.
"We hire a security company to make routine visits every night between midnight and 3am. The on-site alarm would normally have been heard by their security guard.
"The guard failed to make the scheduled visit. We're urgently undertaking a full review of our contract with the company."
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