Men from a double stag party ended up being trapped when an hotel lift plummeted down a cliff face to the cove below in Newquay.

The Daily Mail reports that the impact of the drop and resultant crash caused the lift chamber door to buckle, trapping the six men inside – including both bridegrooms.

The lift connects the Victoria Hotel in Newquay with the beach below and travels down the face of a cliff that is a sheer drop. The accident happened just before high tide and rescue teams had to use lifeboats to reach the trapped men. One of the men later said they feared they might drown if rescuers did not release them in time.

Neil McCracken told reporters that the lift became stuck between two floors in the hotel, before it then suddenly plunged 100 feet to the bottom of the cliff level, just before 6.30pm on Saturday (01/05/10). Mr McCracken said:

‘The doors were open and we could see the walls flashing past. The fire brigade and RNLI came out because the tide had come in.

‘We could see the sea at the end of the lift shaft. We are (sic) at sea level and someone at the hotel said the tide was coming in.

'It was pretty scary, we did not know whether we would drown trapped in this lift shaft. We were extremely worried.’

The six men were transferred to waiting ambulances using lifeboats.

Police said that one man was taken to Truro Hospital while four were treated at the scene for minor injuries – and one man escaped unhurt.

Stephen Dinsdale, 42, from Walton-on-Thames in Surrey was later detained in the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro with a leg injury.

Devon and Cornwall police and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating the incident. Falmouth coastguard said it was a ‘miracle’ no one was badly hurt – around 85 rescuers were involved in releasing the trapped men.

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