Foreign guests flee as smoke pours from two hotel lifts
The malfunctions of two unoccupied elevators in the same Bangkok hotel, one of which dropped from the 24th floor to then get stuck at the 16th, sent some guests running for fear of their safety as smoke poured out of the lift shafts on Friday morning.
Frightened foreign guests ran out of their rooms and left the building.
Firefighters responding at 8.20am to the incident at the 25-storey Maxx Hotel on Rama IX Road in Huai Kwang district sprayed chemical foams in the two lift shafts to extinguish the smoke.
Kittipong Chaisuwan of the Golden Express Co elevator maintenance company, said that his initial inspection found a short-circuit in the control panels had caused smoke to pour out of two lifts parked at the 24th floor.
As one lift dropped and then got stuck at the 16th floor, it damaged the lift shaft, while the damage in the other lift was limited to within the cabin, he said.
A detailed inspection is underway.
The hotel has five elevators.