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A Hull student has told how he was trapped in a university lift with four other classmates for more than two and a half hours.

The group of first year students became stuck in the courtyard lift at the University of Hull halls of residence on Monday and as time went on before they were released, they began to panic.

One of the students even feared that she would have a medical episode without being able to take the medication stored in her room to treat her residual narcolepsy, with the others worrying about her health, as well as feeling overheated and frustrated at the situation.

The students filmed themselves trapped in the lift, which you can watch above.

James Aygun, 18, claims that he and the others - students Leah Siddall, Ethan Lang, Shannon Johnston, and Mandy Carr, who all study drama - were told they would be released within 15 minutes, but ended up stuck in the lift for much longer.

"We all got in the lift on the ground floor of the courtyard halls of residence, but we hadn't even gone up one floor before the lift just juddered to a halt," said James.

(Image: James Aygun)

"To get some help, we pressed the buzzer in the lift and were told that it was out of order and that we shouldn't have got in it, which annoyed us as there was no sign up to say that the lift should not be used, as if there was then we wouldn't have got in it.

"At first we were told that an engineer would be over to get us out in 15 minutes, and we all had a bit of a laugh together and thought that it would be a funny story to tell, but then we kept getting told that it would be longer and longer before we could get out.

(Image: James Aygun)

"They were debating whether or not to break down the lift doors from outside, or get us out another way and it just took forever - it was two and a half hours in the end before we got out."

For James and the other students, the experience of being trapped in the lift was a frightening one.

"There was a girl in the lift that needed to take medication to manage her residual narcolepsy, so she desperately needed to get out so she could get to the medication in her room," he said.

"We told the people trying to get us out that she needed to take the medication by 7pm, and they reassured us that we would be out by then, but a guy didn't come to get us out until 7.20pm, so we were all worried along with the girl that she would pass out in the lift.

"It was such a warm and tight space in the lift for all five of us and it was so uncomfortable and hard to breathe because there was no fresh or ventilated air coming in.

"To be honest it wasn't good at all - some of us needed to get out to use the toilet, and we were also annoyed that we kept getting told that we would soon be released, but ended up being trapped for so long.

"It was a massive relief to finally get out of the lift, but we got absolutely no explanation as to why we had become trapped, and for so long."

What the university says

The University of Hull says its estates department was made aware of an issue with one of the lifts within the Courtyard on Monday evening and that five students were inside.

A spokesman for the education centre said: "University technical staff attended immediately but were forced to call in a specialist engineer from the lift contractor.

"University staff stayed with the students at all times to provide assistance and reassurance and an engineer was able to resolve the elevator issue shortly after arriving. The process took 2 hours and 10 minutes to complete.

"We are sorry this unfortunate incident occurred and remain committed to providing top quality facilities, accommodation and support for students.

"There is no indication that there were any issues with the elevator prior to this incident and full checks have been carried out by the lift contractor."

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