Trapped in the elevator at Baia Castle during the Jazz Festival

Bacoli – An evening of jazz music turned into a nightmare at the Aragonese Castle in Baia. On Saturday, July 25, during the special evening opening for the 2026 Pozzuoli Jazz Festival of the Campi Flegrei, a woman and her blind brother were trapped in the building's elevator for about an hour and a quarter, caught between heat, fear, and an emergency management process described as "improvised."

Pina Brancato, who had traveled to the Castle with Carlo and a group of friends to attend the concert, recounts the story. "To make it easier for my brother, who is visually impaired, to get up, I chose to use the elevator," she explains. "There was no sign, barrier, or notice indicating it was out of service. Once we entered, the doors closed and the elevator got stuck halfway between two floors."

From that moment, the woman continues, an interminable wait began. "I immediately pressed the emergency button. I was told to call a toll-free number, but there was no phone coverage inside and I couldn't make any calls.

Outside, friends were calling for help, but no security guard was able to use the emergency key. They kept reassuring us that the fault had been reported, but we remained locked in there, with the heat increasing minute by minute."

In the cabin, the temperature rose and anxiety took over, amplified by Carlo's condition. "I tried to stay calm, especially for my brother," Pina Brancato recalls. "Being blind, he was experiencing that situation with even more intense anguish than I was. I felt the weight of his fear and could do nothing to help him."

Rescue services were alerted only after the friends intervened. After about an hour and a quarter, an ambulance arrived: a paramedic managed to open the cabin doors with a simple maneuver, allowing air to flow. The woman was helped out through the narrow space between the floor and the cabin, while Carlo remained trapped for a few more minutes until the firefighters arrived, completing the rescue.

What made the incident even more serious was what emerged in the minutes that followed. "Some visitors told us that the elevator was already known to be broken and that an employee had informed others of the malfunction," says Pina Brancato. "If that were true, it would be incomprehensible that no warning signs had been put in place to prevent its use." This circumstance, if confirmed, would raise serious questions about safety procedures in a facility open to the public and also frequented by people with disabilities.

The protagonist's request is clear. "I consider what happened to be extremely serious. I ask that full clarity be shed on the entire affair, that any responsibilities be determined, and that all necessary measures be taken to ensure that such incidents cannot happen again. An evening dedicated to music has transformed into over an hour of fear, helplessness, and profound suffering, leaving us with a scar that we will find hard to forget."

When an elevator becomes a trap, when a simple warning sign is missing, and when those who should intervene lack the tools to do so, the news requires careful reflection. Protecting the safety of the most vulnerable, especially those most vulnerable, cannot be left to improvisation.