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Paramedics freed after being trapped with patient in Chetumal medical center elevator

Chetumal, Q.R. — Two paramedics transferring a patient in an elevator of a medical building required help getting out. On Tuesday, two paramedics from the Othón P. Blanco Fire Medical Unit and a patient they were transporting were trapped for more than 20 minutes in an elevator in the Campestre Clinic.

The paramedics and the patient, who were destined for an upper level floor, reported hearing creaking before it came to a full stop. They tried to restart the elevator but were unable to get it moving.

Since both are public servants, they were equipped with radios, which they used to contact colleagues to help free them. Paramedics on the outside of the elevator were unable to pry the doors open.

It took firemen more than 20 minutes to finally get the door open and the three from inside freed. State Civil Protection were called to the scene where they worked to verify the condition of the elevator.

The stuck elevator had staff on high alert after a six-year-old girl was crushed to death in a Playa del Carmen hospital elevator last week. The girl died after the elevator began moving while her bed was only part way inside. She was an admitted patient and was being transferred to an upper floor by an orderly at the time of the accident.