Around 1,000 people were evacuated and several others were taken to hospital on Thursday due to a fire in southeastern Australia.
The Metropolitan Fire Brigade (MFB) said eight people became trapped in lifts when an electrical sub-station exploded, sending smoke through a 30-storey building in the heart of Melbourne, capital of the state of Victoria.
Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio reported that about 50 firefighters have been called in to rescue the workers and contain the fire.
MFB spokesman David Mann said eight people were stuck in the lifts after the power was shut down.
"Once we knew where they were and the lift company came along there, (it) was fairly quick just sending those people up to that area with the firefighters," he was quoted as saying.
A number of people with disabilities work at the building and had to be carried down stairs by firefighters.
"And our concern was also the other people who couldn't make their own way out of the building, just to make sure they were assured the fire was in fact not in the building but behind them in a substation," he said.
An adjoining building in the area was also evacuated, but power there has since been restored.
Source: Xinhua
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