Elderly couple trapped for 25 hours in elevator

IPOH, Malaysia —  An elderly couple who were stuck in an elevator at the Mydin Meru Shopping Mall here for over 24 hours are so traumatized that they aren’t speaking to anyone – not even to the police.

Md Dahalan Baki, 74, and his wife, Ahadiyah Zakaria, 70, got stuck in the elevator at 11:30 a.m. on Friday but were only rescued at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

On Sunday, they declined to talk to reporters who gathered at their residence in Taman Meru 2C. 

Their son-in-law, who wanted to be known only as Shahrulnizam, said the couple were still in trauma.

“They have no comments and it would be appreciated if you give my in-laws some space. 

“They are still traumatized by the incident and we have engaged a lawyer to take our next step of action. 

“Even the police came and they did not want to say anything to them,” he told reporters.

On Saturday, the couple’s daughter had gone to the mall to look for her parents and found her father’s car still in the parking lot.

She then went to the lift area with a security guard before hearing her father’s voice feebly calling out for help. 

The couple were rescued by the Fire and Rescue Department. 

They were weak when they came out of the lift and were immediately taken to the hospital for treatment.

A spokesman from Mydin Meru said it was carrying out an internal probe into the matter.

“The branch cannot give any statement at the moment. Our headquarters in Kuala Lumpur is investigating this matter,” he said.

Ipoh OCPD Asst Comm Sum Chang Keong confirmed that one of the couple’s family members had lodged a police report over the incident.

A check on Sunday showed that all the elevators in the shopping mall were shut down for maintenance work.