The elevator was descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near the town of Cripple Creek, and the twelve who were rescued were about 1,000 feet below ground.

One person was killed and 12 people were rescued after being trapped for about six hours at the bottom of a former Colorado gold mine when an elevator malfunctioned at the tourist site, authorities said.

The elevator was descending into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine near the town of Cripple Creek when it had a mechanical problem around 500 feet (152 meters) beneath the surface, creating a “severe danger for the participants,” Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said.

The 12 adults who were trapped about 1,000 feet (305 meters) below ground had access to water and used radios to communicate with authorities, who told them there was an elevator issue, Mikesell said.

    • Albbi@lemmy.ca
      26·
      2 days ago

      There’s always one in the group that jumps right to cannibalism in an emergency.

      • WoahWoah@lemmy.world
        6·
        1 day ago

        It’s possible, but it’s the least likely scenario. Modern elevators rarely crash down. They actually tend to crash up when there is a failure, which is very, very rare. There are a lot of safety mechanisms in place to prevent an elevator freefall. It’s occurred less than ten times in like 80 years, and several of those were during construction.

        It’s not impossible, but that scenario is exceedingly rare.

        • vxx@lemmy.world
          3·
          1 day ago

          We’re talking about an old elevator in a mineshaft, not some fancy hotel elevator.

          I wouldn’t call it modern.

          Edit: That rusty orange box on a hook is the elevator

          Nothing would get me into this thing, and I’m not even claustrophobic. It just looks unsafe.

      • SamvegaEnglish
        4·
        2 days ago

        I think it was probably God’s will, and that all we can do is pray.

    • RedditWanderer@lemmy.world
      3·
      2 days ago

      Elevators don’t just drop out of the sky when the cables snap like in the matrix.

      They skip from having a malfunction at 500ft to being stuck at 1000…My guess is the person either died of a heart attack/malaise, electrocution or of some sort of smoke/chemical inhalation.