Seven hurt in police station lift plunge in PE

FIVE days after personnel at the Mount Road police station in Port Elizabeth (PE) were experiencing problems with a non-functioning lift, a lift in the main building plunged from the fourth floor and injured seven people.

Officials from the Local Criminal Record Centre and the Crime Intelligence Unit were stuck in a lift after it plummeted from the fourth floor on Wednesday afternoon. Emergency services were at the scene and successfully opened the lift doors. It is understood that officials sustained various injuries, which included fractured legs, a head injury while others received treatment for shock and whiplash.

Last Friday, cops could not get into their offices and residents had no access to their living quarters at the barracks due to a non-functioning lift. The problematic lift at the barracks situated across the main building at Mount Road police station was subsequently fixed at the weekend. Police spokesperson Colonel Priscilla Naidu said that following the incident on Wednesday, six women and one man were stabilised at the scene and transported to St George’s Hospital for treatment. Naidu said the Department of Public Works had been informed of the incident.

Provincial Commissioner of the Eastern Cape Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga wished the injured employees a speedy recovery adding that an investigation into the incident would be conducted. It is further understood that police are apprehensive to use the lifts at the police station and are now making use of the stairs. The main building and the barracks at the station have at least eight floors each. – ANA