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Whinsley Masara Chronicle Reporter
FOUR people were stuck in an elevator for more than 15 minutes at the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) headquarters in Bulawayo yesterday. Exactly around this time last year, two people died after a lift crashed at the same building. Barely, three months after the deaths, eight NRZ employees were also trapped for more than 30 minutes at the same building. Yesterday, four people who were alleged to be working within the building were stuck on the 14th floor while on their way up to different floors in the 23-storey building.

NRZ spokesperson Mr Martin Banda, said: “According to my understanding from the technicians, the elevator system is censored and so if many buttons are pressed all at once, it stops suddenly. It seems like they pressed many buttons at once causing it to stop immediately but it resumed functionality just before the technicians arrived.”

NRZ general manager Engineer Lewis Mukwada said their lifts were being refurbished and they were halfway through the process. “Three of our elevators have been upgraded, the other three are still to be worked on although they have already been attended to by the contractor,” he said.

A security guard who declined to be named said the four were rescued by technicians at around 8:20AM.

Another person who works within the building said: “The incident reminded me of last year’s incident when two people died. When such things happen, they make me afraid to come to this building.”

In July last year, a woman and a technician who was trying to rescue her from a jammed elevator died after they plunged down from the eighth floor of the building.

The Schindler Lifts technician had been called to assist the trapped woman who was an NRZ employee in the parastatal’s accounts department.

Both died and their bodies were retrieved 24 hours later.

The NRZ suspended the use of its elevators for some time pending investigations by the National Social Security Authority (NSSA). The use of the elevators later resumed, but the outcome of the investigation is yet to be made public.