Past high-profile lift accidents
The lift that severed an elderly woman’s hand on Tah Ching Road in October last year. TODAY file photo
June 9, 2016: Retired factory worker Lai Hsiu-Lan, 68, fractured her wrists and bruised her left eye after she tripped when stepping out of a lift at Block 285, Bukit Batok East Avenue 3. The floor of the lift car did not level with the ground outside when the doors opened.
June 7, 2016: Madam Yeo Choon Tee, 59, was in a lift at Block 150, Petir Road, when it shot up “faster than normal” from the ground floor to the 11th storey, then plunged to the third, and zoomed up again before stopping abruptly between the 12th and 13th storeys. She suffered a compression fracture to her spine after she was thrown to the floor. The lift was put back in service earlier this week.
May 15, 2016: Mr Lim Hang Chiang, 77, fell backwards and hit his head on the ground while reversing his mobility scooter out of a lift that had stopped about 15cm above the ground at Block 247, Pasir Ris Street 21. Mr Lim went into a coma and died the next morning in hospital.
March 7, 2016: Domestic helper Evi Lisnawati, 36, was trapped in a lift at Block 317, Ang Mo Kio Street 31, for about 90 minutes after it shot up from the third to the 20th floor. She reportedly fell and hit her back on the floor. The Building and Construction Authority later said that malfunctioning brakes — possibly due to jammed mechanical parts, an oily brake drum and worn-off brake liners — were the cause.
Oct 9, 2015: The hand of Madam Khoo Bee Hua, 85, was severed after she reportedly tried to stop the lift doors from closing. She had entered the lift at Block 322 on Tah Ching Road in Jurong, but the doors started to close before her pet dog could get in. The dog’s leash straddled across the lift doorway and the lift jammed near the third storey. Madam Khoo also had to undergo surgery on her left leg because of a bone fracture from a fall during the accident.
