Staff Reporter www.khaleejtimes.com
DUBAI – It’s natural to be excited about heading for the tallest observation deck in the world, on the 124th floor of the world’s tallest tower, Burj Khalifa, which is 828 metres tall. But for 14 people on Saturday evening, that excitement turned into fear as the elevator got stuck, five days after the tower’s inauguration.
The group of people that got stuck for nearly an hour in the elevator headed to ‘At The Top’ observatory also included a two-year-old boy. Most of the visitors had paid Dh200 to Dh400 for entry tickets to the deck. The elevator, which travels at a speed of 10 metres per second and reaches the observatory in almost a minute, was stuck at a height of 400 metres from the ground. However, the technical glitch did not affect the flow of oxygen into the car.Confirming the incident, a spokesperson from Emaar Properties said in a press statement that all the visitors were transported to level 124, adding, “The elevator of At the Top was briefly stalled and operations were resumed soon after. The safety of our guests is of paramount importance. All elevators in Burj Khalifa are tested and function to the highest safety standards.”
The breakdown of the lift is the latest instance of snags in the first-of-its-kind project. A day after its inauguration, Khaleej Times reported a crack in a glass panel on the floor-to-ceiling glass walls of level 124.
The same day, when the public first visited the observatory, the ‘At The Top’ restrooms were closed for more than an hour due to a glitch in the plumbing work in the toilets. Emaar did not respond when asked if those problems have been solved.
