7-year-old boy crushed to death in freak elevator accident in Vashi

Ansh Kumar

In a bizarre incident, a seven-year-old boy was crushed to death by a descending elevator of a four-storeyed building in Vasai on Saturday morning. The deceased has been identified as Ansh Kumar, who lived with his parents and siblings on the first floor of Dias Residency Park in Vasai East.

Local residents said four children, including two siblings of the deceased, had entered the elevator on the first floor to come down to play. "The elevator started from the first floor, but it stopped mid-way while descending around 10.30 am and all of them began to panic inside the closed elevator.

A relative shows the elevator, where the accident occurred. Pics/Hanif Patel

The rest of the children were standing in the middle of the elevator car, but Ansh slid through the collapsing gate to bang on the entrance door for help," said Bharat Tiwari, who resides on the ground floor. Hearing the commotion, the residents gathered to extend help, but the elevator car hurtled down, while its collapsing gate remained opened. His uncle Shiv Kumar told mid-day that Ansh's body got stuck between the pit and elevator car and was crushed to death.

The local residents alerted the police and fire brigade officials, who reached the spot and took out the body and also rescued the other three children trapped inside the elevator.

Relatives mourn the passing of Ansh Kumar

The body was rushed to a nearby hospital but was declared dead before admission. There were multiple deep wounds over Ansh's body, whose post-mortem was conducted at Primary Health Centre, Kaman, in Vasai. The autopsy report revealed that Ansh died due to "injury to vital organs, lung and heart, due to blunt trauma".

"The building was constructed almost five years ago, but the builder never cared for the maintenance of the elevator. No society has been formed in this building till now," the residents said unanimously. They further added that the elevator often choked mid-way.

The police have registered an accidental death report (ADR) and inspector Prakash Birajdar said, "We are seeking the opinion [of experts] and investigating the matter to ascertain if any negligence was caused by the builder." Kumar further added that the builder has been informed about the incident but "no one has visited till now".

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