FIREFIGHTERS rescued a heavily pregnant woman from a lift at Blackburn College on Saturday afternoon.

Two woman had to be rescued after the lift malfunctioned in the new college building in Montague Street at just after 4pm.

They alerted the emergency services on their mobile phones as staff in the building were unaware that the lift had got stuck.

Dave Hilliard, crew manager at Blackburn fire station, said: “When they pressed the alarm in the lift it went straight through to a call centre and they were informed that it would take an engineer up to half an hour to reach them.

“So they decided to call 999 and we were there within minutes.

“It was a relatively simple rescue as the lift had become stuck just before the floor so we opened the doors and they stepped out.

“The women were not injured but they had become quite anxious as one of them was heavily pregnant and due at any time.”