The student, surnamed Hsu, required the use of a lift to shuttle back and forth between classrooms due to multiple physical disabilities, officials said.

Officials added that while entering the elevator, she accidentally tripped and fell, with the doors closing on her.

Because her legs were not in the elevator cage when the elevator resumed motion away from the ground floor, part of her lower half body wound up stuck inside the shaft, local media said.

Officials explained that the lift came to a complete stop even before pulling into the second floor, whereby fellow students who witnessed the incident then called for help. The fire department arrived twenty minutes later to assist dislodging a terrified Hsu, officials added.

The girl suffered a fracture in her left leg and is currently undergoing surgery, local media reported. The school's principal, Lee Ming-shen said the elevator, installed only last year and which receives periodic maintenance, has never encountered any problems.

A veteran elevator contractor, surnamed Chou, said he has never seen anything like this throughout his 20-year profession, and cannot fathom how an elevator could operate on its own.