Download Safety experts have warned of more elevator and escalator accidents if problems in the industry are not solved. Their comments come after two tragedies in three days. A 24-year-old woman in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, was killed on Wednesday when she was about to step out of an elevator. The elevator doors closed on her head and wouldn't open, leaving her stuck between the doors, according to the administration of work safety of Luohu district. It then continued its descent. "The woman was concentrating on her cellphone, so she didn't see the doors were closing," said Liu Zhuo, who was also in the elevator and works for a computer software company in the building. The woman, surnamed Wang, was an intern at a hospital and a native of Shanxi province. The findings of the accident investigation were not available on Thursday. The property management company said the building's four elevators had undergone maintenance just three days before the accident. "Closing doors will open when they hit people, and a normal elevator will go up and down only after the doors are fully shut and the circuit is closed," said Xu Ronggen, secretary-general of Beijing Chamber of Elevator Commerce. Another woman was killed riding an escalator with one step missing in a supermarket in Yichang, Hubei province, on Tuesday. There were 36 elevator and escalator accidents in 2017, claiming 28 lives, according to the country's top quality supervisor. |