Twelve people were trapped in a Tokyo Tower elevator on Tuesday afternoon after one of its windows was smashed.
According to the tower's operators, 11 visitors and an employee were trapped in the elevator for around two hours after it made an emergency stop at an elevation of 207 meters at around 2:30 p.m. TV Asahi reported that the elevator had been moving down from the observation platform 250 meters above the ground when the incident occurred.
One eyewitness told reporters, "Something resembling a metal sheet came flying at the elevator and smashed the window."
Police say that no serious injuries were reported, but that a 6-year-old boy sustained a minor cut to his elbow.
Police and tower officials have not yet been able to identify the metal object.
© Japan Today
21 Comments
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Maria
Any construction nearby? This could have been much worse than it was - I hope they do some proper investigation.
rickyvee
man, isn't that everyone's worst nightmare?! Sounds foolish but i always hit the can before i get on an elevator just in case something like this happens.
OldHawk
That's odd. There aren't any tall buildings right next to the tower.
gogogo
A sheet of iron? Lets hope they check the tower for missing bolts
TSRnow
Poor boy, he is surely going to be traumatised by this incident.
BTW, how did they get out?
papigiulio
Sounds like they are still searching for the object?
Im with Gogogo its either something that fell from the tower. They have cameras so it should be easy to figure out.
CrazyJoe
Is it possible that a flying object (sheet of iron?) that flew in the typhoon got caught somewhere in the Tower and fell off the next day?
techall
If they don't know what it is, it's unidentified and if it was 207 meters above the ground it was flying and it's an object so the headline could read "Unidentified flying object hit Tokyo tower". Now that would be a headline!
Get Real
Fell off a plane?
Nessie
Maybe blue ice from a plane, as Get Real hinted at.
Thunderbird2
I've only been up the tower once and my vertigo hit me like a brick... I had to hold my ex's hand in the lift I was so terrified. If this had happened when I was in that lift I would have been reduced to a pile of jelly. Something like that really is one of my worst nightmares... why I will NEVER go up Sky Tree.
FightingViking
How about claustrophobia ? I don't mind heights too much but in an enclosed space with several other people and no way to get out... that's my nightmare...
Ranger_Miffy2
The real story here is where did that flying projectile come from.
Scnadal.Lova
must be construction or something.
Bondsan
safer to take the stairs ...
Heather Murray
I'm glad they were safe.
overchan
If it was a sheet of metal, its almost sure that it was something left by building contractors. Its a big building with many pieces of steel, maybe it was used to level something.
Maitake
the boy was taken to hospital I presume?
ka_chan
The only thing close enough and high enough is Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. But a sheet of "iron", I have a hard time with. Sheet of metal sounds better but how would something like that get past the steel girders? I guess it is better it hit the window than the cables.
TSRnow
I watched news on TV this morning. Seems that they are doing some repair work on the tower close to where this happened, so there are some temporary footings built around it. They didn't give any conclusive information, but the guess would be the wind carried it away to smash into the elevator.
Himajin
Might be from scaffolding, then.