Woman in wheelchair survives fall down shaft

ATLANTIC CITY - A woman in a motorized wheelchair fell about 30 feet down an elevator shaft yesterday at Bally's Claridge Tower, an Atlantic City fire official said.

It took firefighters about 45 minutes to rescue the woman, who was conscious as she was taken to the Atlantic City Medical Center. Battalion Chief Michael Mooney said that he did not know the injured woman's condition, but that she was "extremely fortunate" to be alive.

About 3:30 a.m., the woman tried to catch an elevator on the mezzanine level, but the doors closed, Mooney said. When her wheelchair hit them, he said, they apparently opened even though the elevator had gone up.

Two workers were injured while looking down the shaft. Mooney said he was unsure how they had been hurt.