9-year-old Hyderabad girl's leg gets stuck as lift begins to ascend, crushed to death

Hyderabad: A nine-year-old girl from Hyderabad was crushed to death after she got stuck within the narrow space between her building’s elevator and its shaft on Friday, the police said.

The girl named Lasya Yadav was taking the lift to her house, which is on the third floor in Hastinapuram North Extension Colony at around 12:30 pm, the police said. Her family had recently moved to the newly-built three-storied house.

Her leg accidentally got stuck in the narrow gap between the lift doors and the duct. Before she could pull her leg out, someone pressed the button on the third floor and the lift started moving up even when its outer grill was open.

“As a result, part of Lasya’s body also got crushed between the wall of the duct and the lift,” the police said.

Her father Chandrasekhar Yadav immediately called the ambulance service and also the lift maintenance staff, who rushed to the spot. They struggled for nearly two hours to rescue Lasya. A case of accidental death was registered.

“She was immediately taken to the nearby hospital, where she was pronounced brought dead,” the police said, adding that a case of accidental death was registered in the case.

The president of the state child rights association, P Achyuta Rao, expressed grief over Lasya’s death and blamed it on the substandard elevators being used in buildings without following the safety norms.

Rao demanded that the municipal authorities should give permission to builders only after certifying the fitness of the elevators to be installed.