REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (AP) -- A 2 1/2-year-old girl wandered into a bank vault and became trapped when employees closed the vault door, which operates on a time-locked system that prohibits it from being opened until morning, authorities said.
The toddler's mother works as a teller at the Washington Mutual Bank branch, and while she and the rest of the staff were closing the bank Thursday, the girl apparently went into the vault to play, said Menlo Park Fire Chief Paul Wilson.
No one realized the child was inside the vault until after someone had closed the heavy steel and concrete door at 6:30 p.m., Wilson said. He said the doors could not be reopened until 6 a.m.
After bank security determined there was no way to override the lock, firefighters were called. Working with a federal search and rescue team, they drilled a two-inch hole so they could insert a surveillance camera and drinking water into the vault, along with a microphone that allowed the girl's mother to communicate with her daughter.
``At this point, she is doing fine,'' Wilson said. ``She hasn't been crying or anything.''
Fire officials had originally feared that the girl would have to stay inside the vault until morning. But a private concrete boring firm was brought in and determined it would be possible to drill a hole big enough for the child to crawl out through, Wilson said.
Wilson said the toddler might be freed overnight.
