Can you imagine being stuck in an elevator for three days?

Well that’s what happened to a woman in a suburban Paris housing project last week. The woman, 19 years of age, was found very dehydrated but alive on December 22nd. Newspaper and Television accounts state that the womans father had contacted the building concierge on December 19th when he learned his daughter was missing and suggested that she might be stuck in a broken elevator. However, no alarm had gone off, and they said that a repairman checked the elevators and didn’t find anyone inside.

The repairman began work on the broken elevator the following day, and then returned on the 22nd it was then that he heard a soft cry. On Wednesday, the girl’s father, who had advised police of his daughter’s disappearance, filed a complaint for non-assistance to a person in danger – a crime in France – according to Le Figaro.

Several elevators in the housing project had recently been renovated but not the one in question, according to the news reports. They said that it was unclear why Safiatou did not cry out for help.