26 girls freed from University of Texas elevator after prank

AUSTIN — How many teenage girls does it take to overload a dormitory elevator?

Evidently 26.

That’s how many rescue workers counted Tuesday evening after they opened the door of a stalled elevator at Jester Residence Hall at the University of Texas at Austin.

The girls, who were attending cheerleading camp, told rescuers that they had decided as a prank to see how many of them would fit into an elevator, the Austin American-Statesman reported.

Between about 5:30 and 6 p.m., the elevator descended to the first floor but the doors wouldn’t open, officials said.

After a few panicked cellphone calls from girls, police and firefighters arrived. Then it took about 20 minutes to open the door, police said.

One girl was treated at a hospital and released, and paramedics treated two others at the scene, officials said.

"It’s dangerous, actually," UT police spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon said. "They’re lucky that that’s all that happened."

— The Associated Press