Four law students grievously injured in lift collapse

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Nov 12 2018 DH: Four girl students were injured, three of them seriously, when the lift they were in collapsed after its cable snapped at a service apartment in Fraser Town on Sunday.

The injured have been identified as Akshara (20), Tanushree Bose (24), Falaq Patel (20) and Ishika (20). While Ishika was treated as an outpatient and sent home, the other three have been admitted to two private hospitals for surgeries, the police said.

According to the police, they were second-year law students from Symbiosis Law School in Hyderabad and had come to Bengaluru for an internship two weeks ago. They were staying at Silver Nest Apartment on M M Road in Fraser Town in central Bengaluru.

The incident happened around 9.30 pm when the four took the lift from the third floor. The lift stopped at one of the floors when Tanushree stepped out. The lift cable suddenly snapped from the sheave (pulley) sending the lift car hurtling down through the lift well. Tanushree lost her balance and fell through the lift well on to the top of the lift and sustained pelvic fractures, while the three students were stuck inside the lift car.

The girls were soon rushed to Hosmat Hospital around midnight, after receiving first aid at a nearby hospital. Dr Ajith Benedict Rayan, medical director, Hosmat Hospital said of the four girls, three were ere admitted and one girl was treated as an outpatient.

“I heard that my daughter (Tanushree) had just stepped out of the elevator, while the elevator’s cable cut loose and fell behind her. She lost her balance and fell on the top of the lift through the lift well while three of her friends were trapped inside the lift car,” said Tapan Bose, father of Tanushree who was travelling from Vadodara in Gujarat to Bengaluru.

According to Thomas Chandy, chief of orthopaedics, Tanushree sustained displaced severe fractures in the pelvic and sacrum (tailbone) bone, unstable fractures of the right ankle, left forearm and a cut wound over the face and nose. She is in the ICU for observation and will undergo multiple surgeries for the pelvis fracture, sacroiliac joint and the sacrum.

Falaq Patel (20) sustained unstable right ankle fracture and underwent surgery on Sunday night. She is recuperating in the hospital. Akshara (20) has sustained a displaced fracture of the right leg bones, fracture of one of the foot bones calcaneum and dislocation of ankle joint on the left leg. She underwent multiple emergency surgeries of the external fixator and K-wire fixation. Ishika (20) was treated as an outpatient for the pain and soft tissue injury to the right ankle.

The Pulakeshinagar police are obtaining statements from victims and have registered a case of criminal negligence against the builder and the lift maintenance team. Further investigations are under way.