Swiss tourist found mysteriously trapped and killed in elevator shaft

[Thaivisa News]

Phuket:- A 54-year-old Swiss tourist was found trapped and killed in a narrow space between an elevator and the shaft near a door of a hotel in the Patong area early Friday, police said.

No hotel staff knew exactly how Peter Altorfer got his head trapped in the narrow space between the only elevator of the five-storey hotel and the third floor’s door.

Pol Maj Thirasak Boonsaeng, an officer on duty of the Krathu district police station, was alerted of the death at 2:20 am. He rushed to the hotel with other police officers and rescuers from the Kusoltham Phuket Foundation.

The officials found that the elevator was stuck on the third floor. The tourist’s body was on top of the elevator’s roof and his head was stuck between the elevator and the shaft close to the door of the third floor.

Initially, rescuers could not pull out the body. Elevator mechanics had to move down the elevator so that there was enough space for the rescuers to pull the body to the third floor of the hotel.

His head had a broken wound. His body was sent to the Patong Hospital for an autopsy.

The tourist was staying alone on the fourth floor in the room No 403. Hotel staffs told police that none of them saw what happened.

They said a receptionist heard a loud noise from the elevator’s shaft and she rushed to the elevator and found that it was stuck on the third floor with the tourist’s body stuck there too.

Police suspected that the elevator might be out of order and the tourist might call it to his fourth floor. When the elevator’s door was opened, he might step into the shaft and fall to the elevator’s roof on the third floor. He might then try to climb down to the third floor’s door but his head got stuck.

[uptheos]

Can the way people meet their end ever get any weirder?

Poor bloke RIP

[ttthailand]

This would be about 10 million dollar death In America and every bit would be deserved by his family. This is about the worst I have read here. His family will get nothing and life goes on here in the land of everything worthless .... Terrible!!!!!!

[Tywais]

Initial topic here in Phuket News - http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/827177-swiss-tourist-dies-in-bizarre-phuket-hotel-accident/

[worgeordie]

So the police have given their theory,will that be it, or will there be

a proper inquiry,don't suppose they have coroners here?

RIP Swiss man,hope you find some kind of justice

regards worgeordie

[Aussieroaming]

RIP

[Eddy B]

Wow! What a terrible way to go. RIP to poor guy!

[deckape]

Top three TV posts missing from this story...

1. What a strange way to commit 'suicide

2. Those pesky Burmese are at it again

3. Thailand- hub of elevator shaft deaths

Any more?

[cgphuket]

My Sherlock Holmes Theory: 1. door opens for elevator but car is not on that floor. 2. Drunk tourists walks in without looking. 3. Falls 2 floors and dies. Combination of booze and poor elevator maintenance.

[Banzai99]

This would be about 10 million dollar death In America and every bit would be deserved by his family. This is about the worst I have read here. His family will get nothing and life goes on here in the land of everything worthless .... Terrible!!!!!!

Do you choose to stay here in the land of everything worthless ?

[rhinoboy]

Are you trying to tell me that those signatures on the inspection may have been not really accurate? Yah, I agree with the guy saying drunk and walked in and fell etc. What a crappy way to go, holy hell.

[Bakseeda]

Many different ways to get shafted in Thailand, but this takes the biscuit ... RIP unlucky man..

[falangjim]

Horrible. What a way to go. Remind me to take the stairs whilst in Thailand.

[Banzai99]

He could have panicked, he could have been claustrophobic, we have a notice in our lifts DO NOT PANIC., do not try to open the door, do not pry the door open, , press emergebcy, help will come, do not try to get out yourself. but a claustrophobic guy isn't going to take notice of this, I knew a guy in England that suffered from Claustrophobia, he done things you wouldn't believe, he couldn't sit in the back of a car if it was a 2 door, and in a 4 door he had to occcupy a window seat, and nobody but a fellow sufferer could understand, we went to a party in a block of flats, he couldn't take the lift, he walked 28 floors by stairs, I understood him.

If I was stuck between 2 floors in a lift, I would ignore warning notices and try to get out, because I'm claustrophobic.

But of course, this being ThaiVisa, it's the Thai's fault, the Farang could never have done anything to bring this upon himself, it's those Thai's again. if it had happened in New York, I doubt we would be blaming the entire American population, and guess what, these things do happen in our western Eutopias, the very countries we chose to leave for whatever reason and upped and moved to a developing nation..

If this happened in ew York it would be a tragic accident, when it happens in Thailand , the whole Thai population is deemed as responsible

[rhinoboy]

This is a huge fear of mine too. I would go nuts being locked in an elevator at these temperatures and do anything to get out.

[Bernard Flint]

My Sherlock Holmes Theory: 1. door opens for elevator but car is not on that floor. 2. Drunk tourists walks in without looking. 3. Falls 2 floors and dies. Combination of booze and poor elevator maintenance.

Definately suicide, wait for the youtube freaks.

[Banzai99]

I know a guy that always has a few Xanax in his wallet and a half bottle of hard liqour in his bag, most times he'll never use them, but he keeps them there with him at all times as a crutch, it makes him feel better, even though 99% of the time he uses neither, he knows that they are there if needed, he'd freak out without them.

I know loads of guys that keep a few Valium or Xanax in their wallets, just in case Mr Panic Attack chooses to pay a visit.

[rhinoboy]

Banzai,

Yah the planet & all this crazy technology is enough to warrant carrying pills with you to deal with it, especially in the hands of incompetent, know it all morons who could care less about your life.