Thane: Merc’s SOS button saves the day

The building in which the incident occurred; (right) The car that was trapped

A civil contractor, 48, and his daughter were stuck in a car elevator in their Mercedes in a Thane building for almost half an hour, before the fire brigade was summoned and solved the problem. Firemen restarted the elevator twice for it to resume functioning.

Thane Municipal Corporation's Regional Disaster Management Cell got a call at 8:38 am from the Pachapakkadi Jewel building. "It was a 22-floor building and has five floors of vehicle parking," said a fire officer.

Darshan Koli, 48, and his daughter Darshita, 17, were rescued after 30 minutes. "We usually use the lift but this was the first time when we got stuck and I can't imagine what would have happened if help had not arrived in time. We were very scared. We tried the emergency number and the security. But there was no network. Then I remembered an SOS button in my car. I pressed the button and it sent a message to the disaster management cell," said Koli.