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dirtydog

Sixteen people have been injured in a devastating lift accident at the Welcome Jomtien Hotel in Pattaya on Saturday. The group had entered the lift at the 18th floor before an unknown power failure resulted in the lift freefalling 10 floors before hitting the ground level.

Pattaya, the 24th of July 2010: At approximately 6:30pm on Saturday, Lieutenant Colonel Klitsakorn Thongin (Pattaya Police Deputy Superintendent) was notified of a lift accident at the Welcome Jomtien Hotel on Jomtien Beach Road. A team of officers along with the Sawang Boriboon Foundation were immediately dispatched to the incident.



At the scene, on the ground floor of the Welcome Jomtien Hotel, officers managed to forcefully open the lift doors to free the trapped people. Upon opening the doors, 16 people were found inside, in varying states of injury or shock. Five were sent to the Pattaya Memorial Hospital, while the remaining 11 were transported to the Pattaya International Hospital.

Mr. Preecha Donphutsa, one of the injured revealed that the group had all been to a work seminar on the 18th floor of the hotel. He stated that they were returning to their rooms on the fourth floor when the lift inexplicably lost power and begun a freefall from the 10th floor before impacting with the ground level. In a state of shock he exclaimed, “it is very lucky no one was killed because of this accident.”



Investigations are continuing as to the cause of the accident, with lift specialists already contacted to assess why emergency brakes did not stop the lift from falling after the power failure.

taxexile

16 people, sounds like an overload to me.

dirtydog

Most lifts are 600 or 800kilo limits?

Happyman

If the lift safety systems were operational the alarm would sound and the lift brakes locked in position until the weight was within limits!!

600 - 800 is the norm for public use passenger lifts .

( I must have checked and tested hundreds of the buggers for insurance companies during the 15 + years I was in the industry !!!)

larvidchr

The emergency brakes must have been working to some degree, otherwise a free-fall from 10 floors up would surely have killed some. or what do you say Happyman

Still sounds like a nasty experience.

^^
800 kilo's that would be 30-40 Somalis in times of famin, in the US 8 people max

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misskit

^Or maybe they all jumped up right before they hit bottom.

Mid

thought there was a wedge type system designed to prevent this occurring ?

Happyman

The auto locks will hold a lift if it drops 2 floors - that is about the time for the motor brakes to overspeed and apply.-If it had been serviced at the stipulated 3 month intervals
It will probably be shown that some of the locks on the upper floors were seized up in the retracted position and allowed inertia to build up and any lower ones that did operate would be sheared off as the lift passed them
The passenger compartment would be slowed down a bit each time it passed and sheared off another set of locks and therefore would have not reached freefall terminal speed .

sounds virtually a re- run of a claim I i did in the Holliday Inne ( sic ! ) in Port Said

Would love to see the service record for this one

taxexile

what is there at the bottom of a lift shaft?

is it just a concrete floor, or are there some kind of hydraulic buffers to prevent a full on collision?

genghis61

8? that's being kind the US isn't it?
6 middle-aged kiwi women would beat that.

If there had been farang in the lift, and they'd died, this could have been Pattaya's first mass-suicide. Case solved.

jandajoy

3.........

Loy Toy

I have to agree there. 10 floors is a long way down and obviously the emergency brakes did soften the impact. Lucky.....lucky.

Isn't this the same hotel that went up in flames killing many tourists about 10 years ago?

genghis61

I was trying to be polite. In March a friend from NZ visited us, wasn't aware how big she'd grown since last seeing her - would set off a lift alarm on her own. I'd estimate 130-150kg. My girlfriend said she had 'nice hands', didn't know what else to say.

superman

Hydraulic rams, I believe. I remember watching Myth Busters do a freefall test on a lift with the hydraulic buffers removed. The simulated occupants never survived.

dirtydog

Concrete embedded steel pole in the center, so on your next visit to Pattaya stand by the wall of the lifts and remember to jump just after it passes the second floor
Different hotel, that was palm beach which is now renamed.

taxexile

as a matter of interest, what exactly would happen if you were in a freefalling lift and managed to time your jump to exactly the time of impact ?

any mythbusters out there?

superman

If you could jump high enough you'd still die, as the lifts ceiling would be too low and smash your skull. In my opinion.

Bangyai

A bit like a balcony dive without the fatal consequence.

dirtydog

Pretty sure we done this question already, think it was proved that you would be as dead as the rest of them, still, its worth a try as it will give the others in the lift something to think about just before they die

Happyman

Use the bloody stairs !

nikster

You could try to jump on top of some big people and hope their bodies will soften your impact

Looper

Maybe could wear a crash helmet and climb on top of an american just before it reaches the ground.

These helpful hints should also be on the safety card in the pocket of flights in and out of USA.

dirtydog

Probably best to ban fat people from lifts, hell, they need the exercise more and stairs are good.

ossierob

haha yes when getting into a lift on an upper floor we have all wondered about the freefalling lift and the life saving jump just before hitting the bottom.......it would be a nightmare I reckon but it is at least less scary now Happyman has explained to me that there are brakes that would be active on each floor that would mitigate the fall. Quite thought evoking

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aras

You already are in a certain speed towards the ground and jumping in a lift without a ceiling would still screw you up i suppose?
Is there not 1 person with knowledge of physics? I don't have the energy to think this over to finally find out i am unable to solve this lol

The breaks worked a bit for sure 16 people couldnt survive a 10 sory fall??!!