Stuck with you! Bride and groom MISS their own wedding reception after being trapped in hotel elevator for hours before firefighters could hoist them out
- Victoria and Panav Jha became trapped at Charlotte's Grand Bohemian hotel
- After two hours fire fighters hoisted their elevator up and rescued them
- They were trapped with four of their wedding guests, and nobody was hurt
Victoria and Panav Jha were heading up to their reception on the 16th floor of the Grand Bohemian hotel after their wedding ceremony when they found themselves trapped between floors.
Riding in the elevator with the couple was Victoria's sister and three other wedding guests.
The group was eventually rescued by the Charlotte Fire Department after the elevator was hoisted up a few floors, but by then the party had ended.
Nobody was hurt in the incident.
- Victoria and Panav Jha trapped in an elevator on their wedding night
- Panav and Victoria Jha with members of the Charlotte Fire Department after their rescue
'When it first happened, I thought it had stopped for a few seconds. It'll restart. And then we noticed that the door was just slightly ajar,' the groom told WJZY.
'We got up maybe five feet, and then boom, the doors kind of stuck,' he told CNN. Then the doors started to open, so I could see the concrete wall right in front of me, and I could see the concrete wall behind me, and I was like, that's not normal.'
The bride was thankful that they were trapped with each other and some guests.
'Elevator had a glitch and here we are. It had to happen with the groom and I both stuck in the elevator. So, at least it wasn't just one of us,' Victoria said.
The fire department finally arrived and determined the best way to rescue the group was from the fourth floor, so they rigged up a winch to hoist the elevator up.
From there the guests were put in harnesses and climbed through an opening in the top of the elevator to safety.
Victoria's sister was pulled out first, and Charlotte Fire said she then turned around and said 'please get my sister out next, she's the one in the wedding dress.'
'They harnessed me up, got me in full gear, and pulled me up four floors with a fireman,' Victoria said.
- The Charlotte Fire Department using a winch to raise the elevator up to the fourth floor
- Victoria Jha just before she is hoisted out of the stuck elevator on her wedding night
- The Grand Bohemian hotel, where Panav and Victoria Jha became stuck in the elevator
'First, congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jha on your wedding day,' the department wrote. 'Although Charlotte Fire wasn't formally invited, we weren't exactly wedding crashers either.'
Panav said being hoisted out of the elevator felt like 'James Bond. Maybe Mission Impossible.'
Victoria said while the situation was eventful, she was upset to not be able to say goodbye to her guests.
'We were not able to celebrate or do the last kisses or goodbyes. And that's what put the damper on everything. That's how the wedding night had to end,' she said.
Source:https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...wedding-reception-trapped-hotel-elevator.html
