7-year-old gets stuck between lift grille and door in Pune housing society, dies

PUNE: A seven-year-old boy died after getting stuck between the collapsible grille and wooden door of a lift of a nearly 25-year-old housing society building in the Sinhagad Road area on Monday night.

Police said the boy, Shivansh Dhoot, had entered the lift alone. “Shivansh was playing with his friends and entered the lift around 10pm for his flat on the second floor of the four-story building,” sub-inspector Santosh Bhandwalkar of the Sinhagad Road police said.

“As the boy stepped inside and the lift started moving, he got stuck between its wooden door and collapsible grille. The lift finally halted on the second floor. Residents said no one heard the boy calling or screaming for help,” he said.

The residents got to know of the accident when some of them spotted the lift stuck on the second floor of the building around 10.30pm. “They inspected the lift and found the boy stuck. They immediately raised an alarm and contacted the fire brigade and police,” he said.

Fire brigade and police personnel brought the boy out from the gap between the lift door and the collapsible grille on the second-floor slab, the police said. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where doctors declared him dead on arrival.

On Tuesday, the Sinhagad Road police registered an accidental death report. The police said they were yet to confirm if the mandatory annual maintenance of the lift was done.