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Visitors on the observation deck of the world's tallest
tower heard a loud boom, then saw dust that looked like smoke
seeping through a crack in an elevator door 124 floors above
the ground.
The 15 people inside were trapped for 45 frightening minutes
until rescuers managed to pry open the doors. Because the
elevator was apparently stuck between floors, rescuers had to
drop a ladder into the shaft so those inside could crawl out.
On the observation deck, about 60 more people were stranded
and some began to panic. Shortly after the drama unfolded on
Saturday evening, the half-mile-high Burj Khalifa that was
supposed to be one of Dubai's proudest achievements shut down
to the public just a month after its grandiose opening.
It was the latest embarrassment for the once-booming Gulf
city-state that is now mired in a deep financial crisis.
Witnesses who were on the 124th floor observation deck at the
time and a Dubai rescue official recounted on Tuesday the
chain of events that led up to the shutdown in interviews
with The Associated Press. Emaar Properties, the state-linked
company that owns Burj Khalifa, has said little about the
incident and nothing about an elevator malfunction.
It had no comment Tuesday. It remains unclear what caused the
elevator to the observation deck - the only part of the
building that was open - to fail. Michael Timms, 31, an
American telecommunications engineer who lives in Dubai, was
on the observation deck with his cousin Michele Moscato when
the ordeal began.
"It almost sounded like a small explosion. It was a really
loud bang," Timms said.
It would take another 45 minutes for rescue crews to arrive
and pry open the elevator door, he said. From what he saw,
the elevator's roof looked to be about where the floor should
have been, so rescuers hoisted a ladder into the shaft to
help those trapped inside crawl out. Some were clearly
shaken.
"One lady I saw ... she didn't say a word," Timms said. "She
just looked shocked and dazed, then walked directly to the
wall and sat down on the floor."
Abu Naseer, a spokesman for Dubai's civil defense department,
said the call for help came in around 6:20 p.m. Saturday
evening. Emergency crews used another elevator to reach the
observation deck and were able to rescue all 15 people in the
elevator unharmed, he said.
The incident was the latest to tarnish the international
reputation of Dubai, one of seven small sheikdoms that make
up the United Arab Emirates. In recent years, Dubai boomed on
borrowed wealth that went into extravagant real estate
projects such as islands shaped like palm trees and rows of
striking new skyscrapers.
Then the financial crisis hit and real estate prices plunged
to half their value in a year. The government and many
state-run companies struggled to pay their bills - debts that
surpassed $80 billion. Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital and Dubai's
oil-rich neighbor, pumped $20 billion in bailout funds to
rescue Dubai. In a nod to the bailout patron, the tower
originally known as Burj Dubai was renamed Burj Khalifa for
the emir of Abu Dhabi and UAE president Sheik Khalifa bin
Zayed Al Nahyan.
The surprise renaming was announced at the lavish opening
ceremony on January 4. Emaar, which owns the 828m building,
has not responded to specific questions about the incident
that led to the shutdown or made anyone available to speak
despite repeated requests by the AP. Local newspapers
reported the shutdown on Monday but it was still not clear
exactly when the building was closed. Emaar issued a brief
statement in response to questions Monday saying the viewing
platform was temporarily shut for "maintenance and upgrade"
because of "unexpected high traffic." It also hinted at
electrical problems, saying "technical issues with the power
supply are being worked on by the main and subcontractors."
Emaar has made no mention of problems with the elevators,
angering some of those involved in the incident.
"What just kind of shocks me is that they were going to brush
this under the rug to save face. If it broke, at least tell
people it broke," Timms said.
Witnesses say Emaar provided little information to visitors
stuck on the 124th floor observation deck as rescue crews
worked. That lack of information caused panic among some
visitors.
"I was really starting to get upset, getting really nervous,"
said Moscato, 29, a nurse visiting from Columbia, South
Carolina. "I started crying."
She said she and Timms - along with other visitors, some in
raised voices - asked to use the stairs because they felt
uncomfortable taking the elevator back down, but were told
that was not allowed. Visitors were eventually taken down in
a freight elevator not normally used by the public, they
said. Moscato said one of those trapped in the elevator told
her later that the lights went off and the car began to fall
before the brakes kicked in.
It was not possible to independently verify the account. The
tower's 57 elevators are supplied by Farmington, Conn.-based
Otis Elevator Co., part of United Technologies Corp. Otis
spokesman Dilip Rangnekar said the installation is ongoing.
He declined to comment, however, on Saturday's malfunction,
saying it was up to owner Emaar to release details. Because
of its immense height, the Burj will have separate sections
on levels 43, 76 and 123 known as "sky lobbies" where tenants
will change from express elevators to local ones that stop on
each floor.
Visitors to the observation deck use dedicated elevators that
whisk them from the base to the 124th viewing floor in about
a minute. The tower was designed by Chicago-based Skidmore,
Owings & Merrill, which has a long track record
engineering some of the world's tallest buildings, including
Chicago's Willis Tower, the tallest in the US formerly known
as the Sears Tower.
A Skidmore spokeswoman and engineers involved in the Burj's
construction did not respond to requests for comment. The
observation deck was the only part of the tower that had
opened as work continued on the rest of the building's
interior. The first tenants were supposed to move in this
month. The tower rises more than 160 stories, though the
exact number of floors is not known.
The tapering, silvery tower ranks not only as the highest
building but also as the tallest freestanding structure in
the world. The observation deck, which is mostly enclosed but
includes an outdoor terrace bordered by guard rails, is
located about two-thirds of the way up.
