A simple elevator trip took a turn for the worse May 27 when 22 juniors and seniors overloaded an elevator at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Bethesda while leaving prom.

The weight of the students outweighed the elevator’s counter weight, and the students tried to open the inner doors to the elevator, both of which caused the elevator to lock in place, said Mike Porter, lieutenant at the Bethesda Fire Station.

Students were stuck in the elevator for about 30 minutes, while firefighters repaired the elevator.

“There were way too many students in that elevator,” Porter said.

The students were leaving the hotel to attend post prom when the elevator malfunctioned.

Many of them were already feeling hot before entering the elevator,  junior Sebastian Cahe said.

“I wasn’t worried at all because I knew we would get out eventually,” Cahe said. “Some people were freaking out, but others weren’t.”

Once the students realized the elevator was stuck, they pressed the alarm button and spoke with English teacher and senior class sponsor Todd Michaels through a crack in the elevator doors.

“I was concerned that someone might panic but was hopeful the students would keep each other calm,” principal Alan Goodwin wrote in an email.

Senior Lauren Hill and her date ran into the elevator right before the doors closed to stay with their group.

“Everyone would talk at the same time, and it was madness,” Hill said. “It was a really funny situation.”