On June 10, an elevator malfunction occurred in a residential area in Qiyang, Yongzhou, Hunan, trapping multiple people. A 49-year-old female resident fell into the elevator shaft while attempting to escape and later died despite rescue efforts. Currently, the local authorities have set up an accident investigation team, and multiple departments have intervened to coordinate handling.
On the 16th, the deceased's daughter, Ms. Wu, said in an interview that on the day of the incident, she and her mother took the elevator home. The elevator malfunctioned and slid down, stopping between the first and second floors. After the trapped people called for help, a security guard arrived with a key and opened the elevator door. Her mother fell into the deep elevator shaft while trying to escape. She believes that the security guard's unauthorized opening of the elevator door was an important cause of her mother's death, and the property management should bear corresponding responsibility for this accident.
On June 17, the reporter called the relevant personnel of the residential property management company, but the call was hung up. An elevator maintenance worker responsible for the community told reporters that when an elevator malfunctions and traps people, professional maintenance company personnel must be waited for, and property security guards cannot carry out rescue operations without authorization. The local subdistrict office stated that multiple departments have intervened to coordinate handling, and the matter is currently being processed.
Incident: Multiple residents trapped, woman falls to death while escaping
Ms. Wu introduced that at around 5 p.m. on June 10, she and her mother, Ms. Huang, took the elevator from the G floor to go home. There were about 10 people in the car. The G floor is the ground floor, and above it are floors 1 and 2. The G floor is much higher than the floors above.
"When the elevator went up to the second floor, it suddenly malfunctioned and slid down, stopping between the second and first floors." Ms. Wu said that the trapped people repeatedly called for help. About 10 minutes later, a security guard arrived with a key and directly opened the elevator door with the key. The people inside then attempted to escape.
Ms. Wu said that because the elevator car was stuck between two floors, the trapped people had to jump down more than one meter to reach the ground platform on the first floor. One trapped person jumped down first and safely landed on the first floor platform, then moved a fire safety box to the elevator entrance as a stepping stone. Ms. Wu said that when her mother, Ms. Huang, jumped down second, possibly due to the thin box material and insufficient load-bearing, Huang fell into the elevator shaft along with the box.
