Woman crushed to death by poorly maintained elevator in Sukhumvit condo
By Coconuts Bangkok



BANGKOK: -- A woman was killed by an elevator inside her Bang Na-district condominium yesterday on Sukhumvit Road.

Thonwan Ontalae, 61, was stuck inside the elevator of the eight-story condominium with her granddaughter yesterday afternoon after it stopped working. As she pushed the door open and was about to step out, the elevator began moving, crushing her body.

According to the investigation, the elevator often stops working, and the residents would always break the door open to get out [read more...]

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2014/02/13/woman-crushed-death-poorly-maintained-elevator-sukhumvit-condo


-- Coconuts Bangkok 2014-02-13

Very sad, though I expect quite common. Preventative maintenance seems optional here. I have in the last week reported that one of our lifts in my condo takes you up, then for no reason, back down again.Prevention rather than cure is an unknown concept in LOS.

Horrible, moving with open doors, real shocking, sad story...

Maintenance of equipment and the Rule of Law in Thailand are mere suggestions. Not to be taken seriously specially if one is wearing an amulet.

As someone once remarked what is the Thai word for maintenance, mai pen rai.

very, very sad RIP and thoughts for the grand daughter who must be traumatized

Horrible, moving with open doors, real shocking, sad story...

Yes, that usually only happens if a safety has been overridden. Most likely, either the maintenance company or building jury-rigged the lift by bypassing the safety, because the cab kept getting stuck. I've seen this happen before, but only with construction and service lifts, never a passenger elevator. It's very dangerous and can lead to amputations or even death, as it did in this case.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. God that drives me mad! The lives and (importantly to these tight business owners) money that could be saved.....

So, so very sad.

People here don't understand proper maintenance. They buy goods assuming it will last forever.

Unfortunately, this won't be the last of such accidents here.

Hope the child recovers soon.

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How could the residents accept entry and exit of the elevator when knowing up or down movement could occur at any time.

Was an accident waiting to happen, and it did happen.

As motor-bike riders dice with death unneccessarily with their speeding and not wearing safety hats, so these elevator users did the same. No sympathy there.

what project and developer? Public deserves to know.

Somebody should spend10 yr in prison for this. Never happen

Somebody should spend10 yr in prison for this. Never happen

English by any chance? Typical eye for an eye, "where there's a blame there's a claim" attitude. I came to Thailand to get away from that bureaucracy.

Somebody should spend10 yr in prison for this. Never happen

English by any chance? Typical eye for an eye, "where there's a blame there's a claim" attitude. I came to Thailand to get away from that bureaucracy.

Where did he ask for a claim?

Negligence here was criminal and cost a life but you think the people responsible should not be made to answer for it?

What would your reaction be if it had happened to someone close to you, would you simply turn the other cheek or ask for retribution?

An eye for an eye would mean he wanted the person dead, you are not very bright are you...

He didn't ask for a claim. I insinuated he'd be the type of person to bang on about one.

No, I don't believe negligence should be criminal. I see no logic in incarcerating somebody as an act of revenge, it's totalitarian and belongs in the 20th century.

An eye for an eye does not mean he wants the other person dead.

So very sad and so very avoidable.

The poor child must be traumatised but doubt she will get any REAL Help.

Seems the object is to build something and then let it take care of itself.

No maintenance, no cleaning and of course, no re-painting.... just let it rot!

If it had been a farang, the BIB would have said he committed suicide.

He didn't ask for a claim. I insinuated he'd be the type of person to bang on about one.

No, I don't believe negligence should be criminal. I see no logic in incarcerating somebody as an act of revenge, it's totalitarian and belongs in the 20th century.

An eye for an eye does not mean he wants the other person dead.

The only way to improve things is to charge those responsible, negligence of duty.

Where do you get "totalitarian" from in your criticism of his remarks?

Suggest you buy a dictionary or at least look up the meaning before you try and use big words.

djies, is this because most people dont want to pay their monthly service fee that nobody checked or fixed this problem?

I had something to do with lift maintenance.What happened here is called in jargon - "Guillotine";because usualy head of poor victim is seperated from the body.

It is the most outrageous accident which can happen in this business - of lifts/elevators.It must not happen in any circumstances - Lift engine is blocked by limit switch activated by the door.

This accident is evidently the result of no technical supervision and no maintenance at all!

This is total criminal negligence!

People who used that lift share the guilt as well.Poster "pattaya28"is very,very right.

you do not step in front of coming train,just because the gate is open ?do you?even if you see green light?

Somebody should spend10 yr in prison for this. Never happen

English by any chance? Typical eye for an eye, "where there's a blame there's a claim" attitude. I came to Thailand to get away from that bureaucracy.

How would you feel if you took your car in for a service, they forgot to put the wheels on properly and that cause an accident killing your wife & kids?

You'd be OK, right?

that's pretty horrific!

One of the basic safety features on an elevator is that all doors must be shut before it operates (unless a technician over-rides this for maintenance). This is detected by relatively cheap limit switches which have to be 'made' before operation. Should a limit switch be faulty (dirty or burnt contacts would do it) or damaged the elevator would not operate. If the fault is intermittent, it can be a tiresome process to detect the culprit.

I have seen rubber bands used to hold limit switches in the 'made' position permanently, a simple fix which negates the inbuilt safety feature. Anybody doing this and allowing the system to be used by the public should be charged with criminal negligence, or in this case, manslaughter.

Arguably, had she stayed in the elevator, nothing would have happened to her. In Germany we used to have the constantly moving PATERNOSTER type of elevator, an endless device where you literally have to jump into and out of it, it would not stop. Very safe though, don't know of any accident. So my suggestion is, just don't linger in the door area, make one firm and resolute step in or out, and the chances of injury are reduced because mass just doesn't start moving that fast.

I am so sorry to hear about it.

I see a sprinkler in my room but I am not sure if it works. Many people told me that some of the sprinklers are not functional at all.

I have seen condominiums and office buildings got fire and some of them did not look like the sprinklers were working.

I like Thailand but there are fundamental problems and issues with Thai people. I have seen many Thai people try to cut corners to complete the jobs.

Thai people are not reliable, in general. We can't really trust them, even we think they are good people.

why don't they give the name of the place? We lived in a Bangna condo for years but the lifts were regularly serviced, so not all bad

Yes.....dreadful accident.....my condolences to her family.

Inflaming to suggest, as the report mentions, that there will be prosecutions......

How could the residents accept entry and exit of the elevator when knowing up or down movement could occur at any time.

Was an accident waiting to happen, and it did happen.

As motor-bike riders dice with death unneccessarily with their speeding and not wearing safety hats, so these elevator users did the same. No sympathy there.

They say that the pen is mightier than the sword, excepting when the pen is held by a fool.

Arguably, had she stayed in the elevator, nothing would have happened to her. In Germany we used to have the constantly moving PATERNOSTER type of elevator, an endless device where you literally have to jump into and out of it, it would not stop. Very safe though, don't know of any accident. So my suggestion is, just don't linger in the door area, make one firm and resolute step in or out, and the chances of injury are reduced because mass just doesn't start moving that fast.

Arguable, rubbish. had she stayed in the elevator nothing would have happened to her .... how about it the lift worked correctly .. nothing would have happened to her. This is pure and simple ' maintenance neglect ' .. however without knowing the complete details of the lift servicing .. when , by who etc ... It cannot be concluded who is at fault. An investigation can only determine what & who is responsible. You have to conclude that it was mechanical fault or human error ... this cannot be done on TV although many here know everything.

Very sad, though I expect quite common. Preventative maintenance seems optional here. I have in the last week reported that one of our lifts in my condo takes you up, then for no reason, back down again.Prevention rather than cure is an unknown concept in LOS.

"Prevention rather than cure is an unknown concept in LOS."

No matter how sad an event, never pass up an opportunity to slip in a little nonsensical Thai bashing, right?

So what your saying is that the crumbling infrastructure in the US, collapsing ceiling at a London theater, inefficient & dated power grids in most western countries, water supply networks that haven't been modernized since the Roman era of occupation in Britain, lack of regulatory enforcement that led to the recent worldwide financial & economic collapse, etc. are to be blamed on Thailand ... since prevention of bad things happening through maintenance is something that occurs exclusively in LOS.

If only they could be more like us.