Nine trapped between floors rescued after silent 119 call raises alarm

Nine people trapped in an elevator were rescued safely after a dispatcher's persistent tracking and a swift response by rescue crews.

According to the North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province Fire Department on Tuesday, a call came in to the 119 emergency dispatch center at around 6:05 p.m. Monday.

No voice was heard on the other end of the line. The caller was trapped inside a building elevator at the time, and normal voice communication was impossible because the elevator sat in a cellular dead zone.

The situation could easily have been dismissed as a misdial, but the dispatch center treated the repeated silent calls as a distress signal and moved to respond.

Dispatchers and call-takers traced the clues, identifying the caller's text notification records and the building's location, and obtained a text message from the caller saying they were trapped in an elevator.

The elevator had stopped inside a six-story building in Jeonbuk Innovation City in Wanju-gun. Nine people were on board at the time, including five young children.

The dispatch center immediately ordered a rescue deployment. Crews arriving at the scene found the elevator stuck between the first and second floors. A double-door structure had left the inner door locked, making it impossible to open by conventional means.

Rescuers entered through the top of the elevator and began the operation. They activated a switch on the ceiling panel, forced open the doors to create an exit, and carefully brought the passengers out one by one. All nine — five children and four adult women — were rescued without injury.

Jeon Hyeong-min, chief of the North Jeolla Special Self-Governing Province Fire Department, said the rescue was "a case where the dispatcher's judgment in recognizing an emergency despite a silent call, combined with the rescue team's response, saved lives."