You might recall the article about a lift falling, according to its occupant, some 15 floors

Thank you for bringing the Australian article to my attention seeing I missed it.

The points missed in all of this are:
The lift’s two to one rope pulley suspended counterweight, whilst the lift was travelling up, became dislodged from its suspension ropes and fell some 35 floors down the lift shaft destroying all components in its path.
A similar incident occurred in Sydney some six years earlier after which the company (KONE) wrote to its clients pointing up a potentially life threatening situation.
Just two weeks prior to this incident KONE replaced the fallen counterweight bearings with the same ones they previously recommended be replaced by bearings of a different type.
The article did point out the company pleaded GUILTY.

May I also respectfully point out the article did not mention anything about computers anywhere.

As to Mr. Rochester, he would have received the fright of his life considering he was minding his own business travelling up in the lift when suddenly he became weightless for a split second until the safety gear stopped the lift’s cabin subsequent to which the noises of the counterweight rushing past and the compensating ropes dropping all over the elevator cabin further attacked his senses.
A layman could easily translate the above into a severe drop.

No doubt an event such as this, where the whole building was shaken up would have made the news in the US as well. (The event in Sydney had people ring the news papers asking if there had been an earth quake)

I trust this is of help and look forward to an E-Mail should you need further clarification on this or any other matter in which I may be able to assist.

Best regards

H.M. – Australia