Man survives four days stuck in hotel lift without food or water

A Swedish man was trapped in a hotel lift for four days without food or water and survived using skills he acquired during Swedish military training.

Thomas Fleetwood was stuck in the abandoned Hotel Eden in Austria when he was travelling to the ground floor in the one-person lift.

The 58-year-old, who owns the hotel in ski resort Bad Gastein, was trapped when the lift broke down and he had no central heating, food or water for four days.

He also left his mobile phone in his office, which meant he could not call for help.

Speaking to Austrian Times, Fleetwood said: "The lift has never broken down before; I just hadn't expected anything to happen. I broke a small glass panel at the front door of the lift and that gave me some fresh air, and tried to take off the roof of the lift to climb out, but that didn't help either."

The hotelier was only freed from the lift when a friend noticed a pile of letters outside Hotel Eden and let himself in with a spare key to find out if anything was wrong.

When he realised his friend was trapped, he called the fire service, and Fleetwood was taken to hospital.

According to Swedish news website The Local, police said he is now in "good health, telling officers that a survival course with the Swedish military had set him in good stead."

Last month, a couple missed their flight to Turkey after getting stuck in their hotel lift, just 500 yards from the airport.

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