Teacher and pupils get trapped in lift

A SCHOOLTEACHER kept her cool when 30 Irish students got trapped in a lift at an ice-skating rink in France.

The group of students from Finn Valley College in Co Donegal became caught in the lift and had to be eventually freed by firemen.

One of the group of students, who were aged between 15 and 17, had to be hospitalised because of heat exhaustion following the ordeal.

Some of the students became claustrophobic after getting stuck in the lift as it came down from the fifth floor of the huge ice-skating complex in Nice. The lift has a maximum capacity of 32 people.

It took firemen more than half an hour to arrive on the scene and begin to free the students.

Last night, school principal Frank Dooley admitted the students became anxious.

“It took the fire department a half an hour to come. During that time of course you had a lot of claustrophobia in the lift. You also had heat in the lift, you some had heat exhaustion. You had some with claustrophobia, which would be understandable because it was an inordinate time it took the fire department to come — over half an hour.

“Something that would be routine, you would wonder why the fire department had to come but that is the procedure over there,” he said.

Mr Dooley thanked staff at the centre, whom he said kept in contact with the students throughout their ordeal verbally and by video camera.

He also paid tribute to Lisa Herron, the young teacher caught in the lift with the students during their ordeal, which happened at about 11pm.

“Lisa was very professional and I would like to thank her on behalf of the school for looking after the students so well during the incident,” he said.