Rush-hour Monday evening passengers on a packed F train near the Broadway-Lafayette subway station in Manhattan came to a screeching halt, sitting motionless inside a dark tunnel without lights or air-conditioning for almost an hour, with no idea what had happened.
Many became desperate, although cooler heads were able to maintain the peace. Some even became philosophical as they confronted their predicament.
After almost an hour stuck inside the tunnel, the train — still with no light or air conditioning — was pushed into the busy downtown station, but passengers remained stuck inside cars whose doors refused to open.
— Samantha Mushnick (@SamanthaMush) June 5, 2017
One person cried out to the gods.
— Brenna Thompson (@brennaleight) June 5, 2017
Another user was compelled to extrude a poem to memorialize the incident.
— rebecca (@thewhimsylife) June 6, 2017
Others reported on the goings on in the car, and the varied responses to the problem.
— rebecca (@thewhimsylife) June 6, 2017
Still others documented increasingly desperate attempts to get off the steaming hot cars.
— Chelsea Lawrence (@chelseahbelle) June 5, 2017
"People on the platform took pictures of us dripping sweat," wrote one rider on Facebook, adding "People started to yell things like please get me off and I feel sick," cited by the New York Post.
After another 10 minutes of agony, the doors opened and the riders spilled onto the relatively cool platform of the station.
No explanation for the emergency was given, according to Nypost.com.