The UT Administration later ordered an inquiry into the incident which will be conducted by R.K. Rao, Assistant Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh.

The incident took place at about 1 p.m. when eight persons, including some outsiders, boarded the lift of the additional office building of the UT Secretariat in Sector 9 here to reach the ground floor. The lift was brought down after hectic efforts by the maintenance staff, who had to break a wall to open the door while the lift was still struck.

However, the stranded employees did not have to use the broken wall to come out as the lift was brought down manually. Eyewitnesses said the lift got struck just before reaching the ground floor when it was coming down. "Since the lift was just below the first floor, the liftman initially tried to open the gate and fiddled with the operation buttons, but when nothing worked, the women got panicky," said an official. Eyewitnesses added that luckily for those stranded in the lift, there was no power cut and the light and fan were working. There was also some space left for them to get fresh air, through which water and glucose was also passed on.

As nothing could be done to evacuate those struck, a huge crowd gathered at the site, each suggesting some steps. The three women -- Neeta, Krimila and Meena, who underwent the trauma in the lift were later offered juice and glucose when they came out.

The inquiry officer would be assisted by two professors each of electrical engineering from the Punjab Engineering College and CPWD. He would submit his report within 15 days stating whether the failure of the lift was due to a manufacturing defect or a maintenance lapse. The inquiry would also recommend future steps or provisions maintenance contract which would check the recurrence of such an incident.

The lift, having a capacity of eight persons, was installed in July 1996 and was under a maintenance contract with OTIS Elevators, which had also installed it. Sources say the lift had been giving problems, but such an incident had never taken place earlier.