Elevator at one of Chicago's tallest skyscrapers plunges 84 floors after cable breaks

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An elevator at one of Chicago’s tallest skyscrapers plunges 84 floors

Six people, including a pregnant woman, had a ride from hell when an elevator on the 95th floor of the 875 North Michigan Avenue building, formerly known as the John Hancock Center, plunged 84 floors when a cable broke.

A ride down from the top of Chicago's fourth-tallest building turned into a terrifying drop early Friday for a group of people, including a pregnant woman, who plunged 84 floors when a cable broke.

The six people had gotten into an elevator on the 95th floor of the 875 North Michigan Avenue building, formerly known as the John Hancock Center, when they heard a loud noise as the car started descending.

“At the beginning I believed we were going to die,” Jaime Montemayor told WBBM-TV. “We were going down and then I felt that we were falling down and then I heard a noise–clack clack clack clack clack clack.”

Montemayor, who was visiting from Mexico City on a business trip with his wife Maña, said the couple held onto each other and began praying. Maña told the Chicago Tribune she noticed dust particles seeping into the elevator.

"I knew something wasn't ok," she said.

One of several cables holding the elevator had broken and the car fell rapidly, landing somewhere near the 11th floor. No one was injured, but those inside had to wait hours for firefighters to break through a wall more than 10 stories above ground.

“It was a precarious situation where we had the cable break on top of the elevator [and] we couldn’t do an elevator-to-elevator rescue we had to breach a wall,” Chicago Battalion Fire Chief Patrick Maloney told WBBM.

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A city official told the Tribune the elevator was last inspected in July, and that a "hoist" rope connected to the car failed shortly after midnight.

“That rope is one of several that are connected to the elevator, and, even with this one failing, there’s a redundancy in place," City Buildings Department spokesman Gregg Cunningham told the paper. “Specifics of how it failed, and what type of failure, is still under investigation.”

The elevator and two others will be closed until repairs are made and officials figure out what happened. Visitors to the famed Chicago tower and its observatory area are using freight elevators in the meantime to reach upper floors.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.