Sasaphak Mangmool, a tour guide, said two airport staff finally arrived after she kept pressing an emergency button inside the glass elevator for 15 minutes.

"They stood and watched but did nothing to help. Five or six security guards showed up after quite a while, but none of them did anything to help us," she said.

She said some of them kept looking inside and smiling the whole time, for reasons she did not know.

She said she and the others trapped with her had to put their noses up to the overhead fan inside the elevator to get some air, because the temperature rose uncomfortably. After 40 minutes, two maintenance workers arrived and opened the elevator doors.

Sasaphak said her two foreign clients, a honeymoon couple, complained to her about the staff's unprofessional manner in handling such an emergency. She demanded to see the supervisor, or anyone else of higher authority on duty, but nobody appeared.

"No apologies or anything were offered to us for the delay," she said.

An official told her the elevator frequently stopped working, making her wonder why it was not shut down for full maintenance.