Chinese Woman Dies After Being Trapped in Her Apartment Elevator for 30 Days

March 7, 2016

The remains of a Chinese woman were discovered in an apartment elevator in Xian, China after maintenance workers improperly shut the elevator down, trapping a resident in the elevator for one month, according to

The maintenance workers deactivated the elevator for repairs in late January and repairs were delayed through the Chinese New Year holiday in the beginning of February. Instead of actually checking that the elevator carriage was empty before they shut it off for the month, they shouted down the elevator shaft and when they didn’t hear a response, they assumed it was empty.

The woman’s corpse was discovered on March 1 and the police are now investigating the death as an involuntary manslaughter case.

While the scene of the woman’s death was sectioned off, residents of the building still caught a glimpse of horrible scene inside the elevator. One resident by the name of Xiaolin explained:

“The scene was inhumane. We think she starved to death in there.”

Another resident by the name of Wang told reporters:

“The paramedics told us that when they found the body, her hand had already begun to deform. There were markings all over the inside of the elevator, it’s just too horrible.”

What does remain a mystery is how the woman had gone for an entire month and over a major holiday without being reported missing by family members or friends.

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