A 43-year-old Chinese woman may have died from starvation in China after being trapped in an elevator for a month because maintenance workers shut off the power supply, authorities said.
The woman apparently was stuck in the malfunctioning elevator in a residential building in the Gaoling district of Xi’an since Jan. 30.
The crew found the elevator stuck between the 10th and 11th floors, and shouted to check if anyone was inside, but when they didn’t get an answer, they shut off the power.
When the maintenance workers returned March 1, to fix the elevator after week-long Lunar New Year holiday, they discovered the woman’s dead body.
“Her hands were distorted … there were scratches on the wall, it was horrible,” a building resident told the Times.
The deceased woman who lived in the building may have died more than a month ago.
An autopsy ruled out the possibility of homicide.
Two maintenance crew had been arrested while local authorities said they were investigating the companies responsible for the building’s management and elevator maintenance.
China has poor records on workplace safety where proper safety procedures and practices are routinely ignored.
