Chennai: Abishek, a 23-year old Sowcarpet resident, who was stranded in the manual lift in his residential complex which stopped between floors due to power failure, fell down the elevator shaft and died on Wednesday when he attempted to climb out of it. The incident was reported in Roop Vatika Apartments, a five-storey building that has around 10 residences, on Perumal Koil Garden street. The deceased was living with his family, on the top floor.
Abhishek, who works in an electrical shop, left his home around 10.30 am with his lunch bag and stepped into the lift on the 5th floor. Moments after the lift began moving, load shedding was effected in the building that paused the lift between 5th and 4th floors.
“Since Abhishek was in a hurry to leave, he opened the fourth floor door of the lift from inside and tried to climb down to the fourth floor. In the process, he lost balance when he leaped down to the fourth floor from the lift and fell down through the gap into the lift well. He fell with a thud from a height of about 35 ft.
The other residents rushed to the lift to find only his lunch box and peeked into the lift well to find him lying down in a pool of blood,” a senior police official told DC.
Soon after he was found in the lift well, the lift was opened on the ground floor and the power to the lift disconnected to prevent it from operating when electricity supply resumes. Abishek was pulled out of the shaft and was taken to a neighbouring hospital where the doctors declared him dead on arrival. Elephant Gate Police had registered a case and are investigating.
“Since it was a manual lift, Abhishek could easily pick the lock of the lift control and was able to open it from inside. Had he tried to climb up to the 5th floor instead of descending to the 4th floor, he would have survived,” a police official observed. The building is only 12 years old, and the family had been living here in the complex for nearly a decade.
