All seven passengers trapped in Tirur railway station lift rescued

Malappuram: Seven passengers, including children, who were trapped inside a lift at Tirur railway station on Tuesday, were rescued after two hours of intense efforts.

The incident happened around 9 am and involved a five-member family from Thiruvananthapuram and two residents of Kavanur, Manjeri. Railway police rushed to the spot soon after being alerted, but were unable to open the lift. Technicians were later called in, and the Tirur fire force also joined the efforts. 

During the tense wait, food and water were provided to those stranded by creating a gap through the lift’s exhaust fan. All seven were safely brought out following a prolonged rescue effort.

Tirur Fire Station Officer P Abdul Saleem, who led the operation, said the rescue was particularly challenging as none of the safety mechanisms of the lift were functioning.

"Normally, when a lift halts midway, it can either be raised to the top entrance or slowly lowered to the ground manually. But at Tirur station, none of these options worked. We could only serve water to the passengers by creating a gap through the exhaust fan. When all manual attempts failed, we decided to cut open the roof of the lift to bring them out," he explained.

Among those trapped, one passenger was a heart patient and another woman had recently undergone leg surgery. Both were shifted to hospital for medical observation. No injuries were reported in the incident.