Firefighters responding to noise complaint rescue elderly woman trapped in bathroom

Firefighters dispatched to investigate a noise complaint rescued a woman in her 80s who had been trapped inside a bathroom.

According to the Gyeonggi Gwangju Fire Department on Wednesday, a 112 emergency call was received around noon Tuesday reporting that "thumping sounds keep coming from the upstairs unit" at a residence in Chuja-dong, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.

Firefighters and police responded to the four-story multi-unit residential building and checked each unit to locate the source of the noise. No one answered at one unit on the third floor.

Suspecting an emergency, firefighters used a small ladder truck to reach a window and entered the unit.

Inside, they heard knocking from behind the bathroom door. A resident in their 80s who lived alone had been trapped inside.

Firefighters forced open the bathroom door and freed the resident.

The resident had been trapped for about three hours and was found to have bruising on the back of their hand at the time of the rescue.

"This is a case where not overlooking the possibility of an emergency at a noise complaint scene led to the rescue of an elderly resident," said Bae Yeong-hwan, chief of the Gyeonggi Gwangju Fire Department. "We will do our best in our on-site response so that the desperate signals citizens send do not go unanswered."