Woman Stuck Alone in Elevator Over Night, Texts Her Love Before Rescue

(Aaron Tam/AFP/Getty Images)

A woman was trapped alone in an elevator for 21 hours before she was rescued by police in Jiangxi Province, China, according to a March 26 report from multiple mainland Chinese media outlets.

While she was stuck in the elevator, she sent many text messages to her husband, expressing her deep love for him as she feared she may not come out alive.

However, the texts were not delivered due to lack of a signal.

Elevator Texts

On March 20, at around 3:00 p.m., Zou was out with her husband Xu. Zou wanted to look at their newly purchased home in a recently constructed high-rise building. Then Xu went back to the office that they both own.

However, when she was riding in the elevator, it got stuck on the 26th floor.

She pushed the emergency button to call for help, but no one answered. “When I tried calling 110, there was no signal, so I kept pushing the emergency bell,” Zou said in a video widely circulated on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. “110” is China’s version of 911.

Meanwhile, Xu began to worry about his wife.

“Around 4 o'clock, her phone was off when I called her, so I just thought her phone was out of battery,” Xu said in the video.

Xu said in the video that he wondered if she had been robbed, or if she'd been in a car accident. He continued to look for her all day, and had to stop in the evening.

Zou was starting to lose hope, and she thought only of her husband.

“At the time, I was thinking, oh my lord, there are 26 floors, how will anyone find me?” Zou said. “So I left text messages for my husband.”

Zou knew her battery was running out, and sent her sincerest feelings to her husband through text.

Love Through Text

“My husband, I’m stuck in an elevator, I may never get out [of here],” Zou texted, as shown in the video. “I love you, I really love you, I want to be your wife in our next lifetime.”

Zou was stuck in the elevator through the night, and said she could not fall asleep as she laid on the cold floor.

“I really, really love you, I hope that after I die you can find a wonderful wife ....Who will cook for you and have a child with you ....Don’t forget me,” Zou texted.

On March 21, the following day, Xu reported his wife as missing to the police at about 9 a.m.

The police retraced Zou’s steps and went to the building to look for her. 

When the police entered the building, they saw the elevator light flashing, indicating that something was obstructing it.

The police went to check every floor. And finally, they heard Zou calling out for help. The doors were pried open, and Zou was carried out of the elevator by the police. She was rescued at around 12:30 p.m.

When they were finally reunited, Zou shared a teary-eyed hug with her husband.