Elevator traps mentally disabled woman 3 days

PARIS (AP) -- A 19-year-old woman spent three days trapped in the elevator of her suburban Paris apartment building after leaving home to buy a loaf of bread, judicial officials said Friday.
The woman, identified only as Safiatou, disappeared Dec. 19 when she left the Courtille housing project, east of Paris, to go to a local bakery. An elevator repairman discovered the mentally handicapped woman, shivering and dehydrated, on Dec. 22.
According to an official close to the investigation, Safiatou's father had contacted the building concierge Dec. 19 to say his daughter could be stuck in the elevator. The emergency alarm was never triggered, and the concierge and a repairman heard no sounds from the shaft, judicial officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because an investigation is ongoing.
The technician began repair work on the elevator, which was stuck between floors, the following day. .
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.