Lift Safety · News & Tracker
A factual, sourced column tracking lift and elevator accidents across India. We document each incident — and what could have prevented it — so the pattern stays on the public record.
A 58-year-old woman died after stepping into an open shaft when the fifth-floor landing door opened with no lift car present; her 13-month-old grandson was injured.
Read the report →A 50-year-old contract employee at a Nashik medical college hospital died after her head was caught in a small freight (dumbwaiter) lift that suddenly came down.
Read the report →A visitor died after being caught in the doors of a medical-college lift that moved while his wife and child were stepping out; five people were later arrested.
Read the report →CCTV captured a resident narrowly avoiding being crushed when the elevator shot upward as he exited; he suffered internal injuries. An electrical drive fault is suspected.
Read the report →A 12-year-old boy was killed after being trapped between the third and fourth floors in an ageing apartment lift fitted with iron gates rather than modern sliding doors.
Read the report →A 25-year-old worker from Uttar Pradesh died after falling from the fourth floor into the elevator pit of an under-construction building.
Read the report →A child playing near an elevator was caught between the grille door and the wall as the car ascended, and died of the injuries.
Read the report →A 58-year-old retired security official died after falling into an apartment building’s lift shaft.
Read the report →A six-year-old died after being caught between the lift and the wall while entering an elevator.
Read the report →Six people were injured when a lift fell from the sixth floor of an apartment building.
Read the report →A 52-year-old man was pinned and killed when the lift moved upward as he tried to enter a commercial building’s elevator and became trapped between the car and the shaft wall.
Read the report →A guard died after falling down a lift shaft from the fourth floor when the landing door was open but the car was not there.
Read the report →A 65-year-old retired pharmacist fell to his death in an elevator shaft.
Read the report →A supporting cable of a construction hoist on an under-construction 40-storey tower snapped; the car plunged to a basement level, killing six workers and injuring another.
Read the report →A roughly 12-year-old elevator in a commercial building collapsed from the fourth floor, reportedly due to excess weight; a 70-year-old visitor died and three others were injured.
Read the report →A 28-year-old service engineer died while uninstalling a temporary lift that came crashing down 25 floors.
Read the report →Three men were killed and one critically injured after a hydraulic lift malfunctioned and crashed at a factory.
Read the report →A 20-year-old man died when a glass lift carrying four people crashed to the ground floor of a high-rise society; three others were pulled out and survived.
Read the report →A 74-year-old resident entered a society lift on the first floor; the door shut and the car dropped and struck the ground. He died of chest and other injuries in hospital.
Read the report →Seven labourers were killed and one injured at an under-construction building when the support structure inside the elevator shaft gave way. The workers had no safety gear.
Read the report →What the pattern shows
A simple, honest breakdown of the incidents above — what went wrong and where. Every figure is counted from the sourced cards on this page. This is a small, news-sourced sample, not a statistical survey, so read the caveats below before drawing firm conclusions.
Most of these deaths were preventable. A properly specified lift with working safety gear, door interlocks, and an emergency rescue device would have stopped many of them. Sizing and safety go together — see our ERD sizing calculator, specifications, and the policy tracker on lift laws across Indian states.