On page 3 of The Times Wednesday July 25th 2001 there is an article entitled
"pasta keeps old couple alive for 8 days in lift"

An elderly Italian couple were trapped in a lift in their home in Volpiano,
Turin for 8 days when it stopped between floors. This to me shows the need
for linking of the lift controls to either the burglar alarm system if there
is one, or connection to a phone line to be able to dial out in an
emergency.

The article goes onto say that Michele Arietti, 79, and his wife Maria, 77
were travelling from the first floor to the ground floor in their home. They
had made too much pasta and were taking the remaining 1kg to their freezer
when the lift stopped between floors with the doors shut. No-one could hear
them shouting and they spent the next 8 days in a 5 foot square airless lift
car with only the pasta to eat and Michele recalled a survival manual that
he had once read and they drank their own urine. Apparently according to the
article the uncooked pasta was quite salty so this made them even more
thirsty.

Eventually their son who had been trying to ring them and getting no reply
so went to the house and with a neighbour called police to break in. They
were taken to hospital although Signora Arietti was arguing to take a shower
first as he felt they were not smelling very fresh from their 8 days. She
returned home from hospital, but her husband is still there due to his
diabetes. He did not have any of his medication with him when in the lift.
They will be phoning the lift company to discuss a few things they are
reported to have said.

The pasta they made was agnolotti, a square-shaped ravioli. I thought this
might be useful for future reference, although go easy on the salt if you
are making it yourself.

An article further down the same page records the longest time someone was
stuck in a lift without food or water was 10 days by Armando Piazza, 64, a
caretaker at an Italian ski resort. He lost 33lb in weight during the time.

Not wanting to draw any inferences from this but I think I will go prepared
when venturing into any Italian lift cars

all for now
Marcus

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