By Kevin Spradlin
PeeDeePost.com
ROCKINGHAM — Four young visitors to Discovery Place KIDS in downtown Rockingham mid-afternoon Tuesday were reportedly stuck in the elevator for approximately 20 minutes.
Shortly before 3 p.m. as three emergency vehicles from the Rockingham Fire Department idled curbside along the South Lawrence Street side of the nonprofit museum, museum Director Katie Rohleder indicated that firefighters were merely working on the elevator.
However, Kaitlin Rogers, manager of public relations and marketing for Discovery Place KIDS in Charlotte, confirmed there were four guests stuck inside.
Rogers said while the four guests were inside, the elevator became stuck. Someone hit the emergency button, she said. Museum staff called the city of Rockingham, which owns the building. City staff in turn called the fire department, Rogers said.
“They were evacuated safely” after about 20 minutes, Rogers said.
Rogers said this is the first time since the museum’s opening in February 2013 that the elevator, accessible to the public, has not worked properly.
Museum staff, she said, “were a little bit nervous” about the incident but “I think everything went really well.”
The four youth were a part of a group visiting the museum, Rogers said.
Rogers said the elevator has been closed until city staff can investigate what went wrong.
“This hasn’t happened before,” she said, “so we’re not really sure what happened.”
It appeared that museum operations resumed as normal while the four children were stuck in the elevator.
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