Try Dieting!

Weight violation prompts elevator rescue
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (UPI) -- Seven people had to be rescued from a stalled elevator in New Bedford, Mass., City Hall after the vehicle's weight restriction was surpassed, an official says.

John Perry -- the New Bedford Department of Public Facilities superintendent of facilities, maintenance and construction -- said the elevator had an approximate weight capacity of 1,700 pounds, and the weight of 10 people was just too much for the elevator car to handle last week, Boston's WCVB-TV said.

Perry said riders packed into the elevator despite the weight limit warning and stalled the transport for two hours Thursday.

"Some people just don't want to listen to the elevator operator," Perry said.

Three of the trapped riders chose to leave the stalled elevator using a ladder but the remaining seven had to wait in the elevator car until rescuers could free them.

Perry told WCVB-TV that officials would be more stringent regarding the use of the elevator, which was manufactured in 1912 and is the nation's oldest continually operating elevator.

"We will be kicking people off from now on," the superintendent said.



Copyright 2008 by United Press International