A woman survived a 16-foot fall down an elevator shaft inside a Jersey City building. It happened on Monday afternoon inside an apartment complex at 11-13 Gifford Avenue.

Tenants in the building heard her cries for help and ran to see what happened.

Officials say the 53-year-old woman remains hospitalized with injuries to her elbow and hips.

She was with her granddaughter getting the mail on the first floor. As she opened the door to get back on the elevator, it wasn’t there. When operating normally, that door shouldn’t open.

Brandon Rennick was on the third floor inside of an apartment with a friend. He heard the woman yelling for help.

“The grandmother assumed the elevator was still there on the first floor and she opened it but tried to go in backward thinking the elevator was still there and she fell,” Rennick says.

The building is owned by a limited liability company out of Lakewood and is managed by Cross Country Management.

That organization put out a statement on Wednesday, stating, “Tenant safety and security are our top priority. We are actively investigating the incident along with our elevator company.”

Because of her injuries, firefighters were not able to lift the victim to the first floor. Instead, they drilled a hole into the elevator to access her from the basement.