Trapped and Rescued: 286 Saved From Elevators During Massive Blackout in Madrid
Madrid faced moments of panic and disruption on Monday after a sudden blackout swept across Spain and Portugal, halting trains, jamming roads, freezing metro services, and trapping hundreds in elevators.
Emergency workers in Madrid sprang into action, carrying out 286 rescue operations to free people stuck inside lifts, the head of the regional government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, confirmed during an interview with Antena 3 TV.
“What we are now dealing with more frequently are cases of people trapped in lifts. We have received 286 requests,” she said, as power slowly began to return to parts of the city after hours of turmoil.
Despite the chaos, Madrid’s vast metro system, which serves around two million commuters daily — was evacuated safely, Ayuso assured.
Stories of those caught in the blackout quickly surfaced. One man shared a video online, describing how he was trapped in a lift without phone coverage for nearly 40 minutes. His desperate banging on the elevator door was finally heard by a neighbour, who alerted the municipal police. Rescue arrived about half an hour later to free him.
Spain and Portugal, which share a closely linked power grid, were both hit hard by the outage. Their energy network, known as an “energy island,” is primarily connected to Europe through a limited number of cross-border lines with France.
The blackout, although eventually resolved, left a stark reminder of how interconnected and vulnerable modern infrastructure can be — and how crucial swift rescue operations are during such emergencies.
News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.
