CHICAGO _ It had been about an hour since the elevator suddenly stopped at the former John Hancock Center, two of its cables broken and six people trapped inside. All they knew was they were somewhere between the 95th floor and the lobby of Chicago's fourth-tallest building.
Another hour or more would pass before firefighters knocked through a brick wall on the 11th floor and helped the tourists to safety early Friday. Fire officials reported no injuries among the group, which included a pregnant woman.
Crews were called to the building on North Michigan Avenue around 12:30 a.m. and were told a group of people had left the Signature Room but their express elevator had quit running before reaching the ground floor. The elevator was in a "blind shaft" with no openings firefighters could use to reach it.
"We didn't know what their location was at that time," Battalion Chief Patrick Maloney told reporters.
They finally located the elevator near the 11th floor. At least two of its cables were broken but safety systems were in place. "It's not in an unsafe situation," Maloney explained.
Still, "it was a pretty precarious situation" to get the people out, he said. "We had to breach a brick wall."
Crews hoisted each person through the opening. One woman was pregnant. One person had a history of panic attacks. But no one appeared to be in any medical distress, he said.
"They were very gracious," Maloney said. "They were from out of town, visiting this great city."
Firefighters and police officers buzzed about the lobby as the rescue effort wore on inside the building at 875 North Michigan Avenue.
"Car one and two, they're express as well?" a firefighter in blue clothing said into his phone a little after 1 a.m. Friday, standing next to a Christmas wreath near the elevator bank. "They don't stop on any of the other floors?"
Friend of those trapped in the elevator sat on the polished floor with their backs to the wall, their heads leaning down or buried in phones. Nash Mena and Luis Vazquez, from Mexico City, had been in Chicago for about a week, staying at the Loews Hotel about a mile away. They were messaging two of their friends in the elevator.
They had all been at the Signature Room bar on the 95th floor _ "It's a beautiful view." _ and had taken separate elevators down, Vazquez said. "They were the last ones to come back."
Usually the ride down is fast, descending dozens of floors in a matter of seconds. Seconds after his friends' elevator took off, they heard a "bang," Vazquez said. They messaged him on WhatsApp.
Around 1:15 a.m., building employees told people sitting by the elevators they couldn't wait there anymore and ushered them into the lobby.
"This is crazy," said a woman in a suit, shaking her head as she walked through.
Vazquez, a civil engineer, said he couldn't believe the situation that was playing out in one of the most notable buildings in the country.
"This is the second most important building in Chicago? And this is the third most important city in the United States?" he said. "In the 98 floors, they have no place to open any door? That is the craziest thing."
Dissatisfied with initial help from building personnel, who "weren't doing much," Vazquez said they called 911 themselves.
Shortly before 3 a.m., word rippled through the lobby that the group would soon be reunited. Their friends gathered outside the elevator banks, lining a pathway. When the first of the rescue crews emerged from the elevators, the crowd clapped loudly and continued applauding as firefighters walked though carrying sledgehammers, long metal planks, rope and other tools.
The friends realized the six were being led out the north entrance, and walked through the building to meet them. The group hugged and laughed on the sidewalk until a private bus arrived to take them to their hotel. Those rescued needed to rest before they were ready to talk about their experience, friends said.
Fire companies throughout the city are trained at elevator rescues, including personnel familiar with blind shaft elevators, according to Maloney. They respond to elevator rescues every day, though at much smaller buildings.
Building security repeatedly intervened when they saw reporters talking to guests in the lobby and on the sidewalk outside. When firefighters were about to give a televised news conference on the sidewalk, an employee told the group to get off the property. They moved to the public street, setting up again in front of a parked Chicago police car.
Representatives of the building could not be reached for comment.
