At least he wasn't going to starve, but was he going to be hungry 30mins later?

Deliveryman Found In Elevator

Ming Kuang Chen was written off after vanishing last Friday night while
making a delivery for Happy Dragon restaurant at a high-rise apartment
building in the Bronx.

As police conducted a massive search and days passed, speculation grew
that the 35-year-old Chen was the victim of armed bandits or some other
urban horror.

But more than three days later, the disappearing deliveryman emerged
with a mean thirst and a tale of survival: he had been stuck by himself
in an elevator the whole time, without food or water. He was pulled out
at about 5 a.m. Tuesday by firefighters responding to an emergency call
at the high-rise.

"Thanks for everyone caring about me," Chen said afterward in an
interview with ETTV, a Taiwan-based news network. "I'm fine now."

Chen -- an illegal immigrant from the Fujian Province in southeastern
China who speaks mostly Mandarin -- apparently tried to tell rescuers
how long he had been trapped by circling his watch dial with his finger
numerous times, said Charlie Markey, a Fire Department spokesman.

The deliveryman was given water at the scene before being taken to
Montefiore Medical Center. He was treated for minor dehydration, but
"that was all. ... He was in very good condition," said hospital
spokesman Steve Osborne.

On Tuesday, authorities -- who conducted a door-to-door canvass of the
apartment complex over the weekend -- were questioning why police
officers and the building's private security force found no sign of
Chen, who claimed he had repeatedly cried out and pushed an alarm button
in the elevator.

"I tried to knock (down) the door and kept screaming for help, but no
response," Chen said in the television interview. "During the time I was
stuck in the elevator, I just kept sleeping because I don't know what
else to do."

Chen was last seen about 8:30 p.m. Friday after making three deliveries
at the same apartment complex in the Bedford Park neighborhood. He later
told police through a translator that he had entered an elevator on the
32nd floor of a 38-story building when it plunged down and became stuck
between the third and fourth floors.

An investigation on Tuesday determined that the security camera and
alarm system in the elevator were working. But security officers told
police they never heard nor saw Chen until they received his emergency
call early Tuesday.

Even maintenance workers who were called to check out the disabled
elevator on Monday missed Chen, police said.

Those questions aside, Mayor Michael Bloomberg marveled at Chen's good
luck.

"If they were there and they searched and they didn't find him, thank
God it turned out that he's OK," the mayor said. "I think we should all
be thankful that the man's alive."