A 50-year-old woman survived a Nashik lift accident after the elevator of her four-storey apartment building plunged while she was stepping out on the fourth floor on Tuesday night, according to a report by the Times of India. The woman, identified as Maya Janbandhu, was pulled to safety by residents after her right leg became trapped between the lift car and the building wall.
Janbandhu lives in the Shivajinagar area of Satpur. She was taken to the fourth floor along with other residents after mattresses stored on the terrace caught fire from firecrackers, her son Abhay told the newspaper. The group used the elevator to reach the terrace level as residents became concerned about the fire.
The lift reportedly reached the fourth floor before Janbandhu began stepping out. As she placed one foot outside the elevator, the car suddenly started descending. She tried to exit quickly, but her right leg was caught between the lift and the wall. The movement forced her onto the top of the descending elevator car as it dropped through the shaft.
The incident unfolded within seconds, according to the report. Residents managed to pull Janbandhu out from the top of the lift car. They also rescued the other four occupants and a small child who were inside the elevator when it descended.
Janbandhu did not suffer any fractures, despite the fall and the position in which she was trapped. She is currently stable and recovering at home under medication, the report said. The account did not specify whether she was admitted to a hospital immediately after the incident or whether the building’s elevator had undergone a subsequent inspection.
The reported accident occurred amid an unrelated fire involving mattresses kept on the building terrace. The source report does not establish what caused the elevator to descend, whether its doors or safety mechanisms malfunctioned, or whether the lift had any previous maintenance complaints. It also does not mention any statement from civic authorities, fire services, police or the elevator’s maintenance agency.
For residents, the incident involved two building-safety risks at the same time: a terrace fire and a lift failure during an evacuation-related response. The immediate rescue was carried out by occupants of the building, who first removed Janbandhu from the top of the lift and then helped the remaining passengers and child out.
Further details about the lift’s condition, the building’s maintenance records and any official inquiry were not available in the supplied report. The next publicly reported step would be confirmation of whether the elevator was examined and whether authorities recorded the incident.
