Passengers at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand watched in horror as a glass elevator crushed a 22-year-old worker right in front of them, killing him.
It is not that the elevator broke free and plummeted down the shaft. While details are still sketchy, it appears the elevator was operating normally when the man was working underneath it. Somehow, even though it did not happen through a fast free-fall, the carriage came down on him and took his life.
The incident happened at the Bangkok airport on Tuesday, August 14. Wisatrat Tangsoh, a mechanic, was doing repairs at the bottom of the elevator’s shaft when the two-ton car came hurtling down and crushed him.
Witnesses reported hearing screams of pain in the departure terminal, but they did not last long. Tangsoh worked for the Asian Elevator company and his coworkers rushed to the scene of the accident. All they found was his crushed, lifeless body under the elevator carriage in a pool of blood.
Tangsoh was apparently trying to fetch a wrench out of the base of the carriage when it started operating at normal speed. He was not able to get out of the shaft in time, and people above him frantically trying to stop the elevator were unsuccessful. When rescue workers arrived they discovered the mechanic dead from a crushed head.
Airport staff and rescue workers immediately cordoned off the area from public view as his body was retrieved and sent off to the Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute for an autopsy.
There is no final report on the incident yet, but airport managers say it was Tangsoh’s own fault. Airport reps. said their initial investigation indicated that the worker did not follow proper safety protocols, though no further details were available.
Contrary to popular fears, elevators do not fall down their shafts after a cord snaps. They have numerous safety features built in, including systems of teeth in the shaft that engage the carriage and prevent it from hurtling to the ground. Whatever caused the Thai worker’s death probably resulted from a different kind of error.
