ATLANTA — Two young cousins who spent hours trapped in an elevator shaft in downtown Atlanta had the chance to reunite with the firefighters who rescued them from what could have been a deadly situation.
Malai Moore, 13, and Johnny Jones, 11, were heading to lunch when they became stuck between floors in an Atlanta highrise. What should have been a quick trip to the lobby turned into an hours-long ordeal.
"I was very terrified because I didn't know what else would happen," Moore said.
The experience was equally frightening for Jones.
"The first thing that was going through my mind was that I hope we get out sooner than later — and the second thing is, I hope we don't die in here," Jones said.
The cousins called their families, who then contacted the fire department. Atlanta Fire Battalion Chief Lem Mullins said the children were in a blind elevator shaft with no way to reach them. They were roughly six floors from an access point.
The fire department's special operations unit was called in to execute a complex rescue operation.
"We had to build a rope system to actually go in at the top of the car, and then we sent a second rescuer down to actually get in the car and put the harness on the kids and get them out," Mullins said.
Fire officials say they respond to hundreds of elevator entrapment calls each year, but this rescue required specialized equipment and techniques due to the location of the trapped elevator.
The reunion between the cousins and their rescuers marked a happy ending to what could have been a tragic situation.
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