4-year-old dies after getting trapped in apartment lift in Hyderabad

HYDERABAD: A four-and-a-half-year-old boy died after allegedly getting trapped inside a malfunctioning apartment lift at RC Reddy Colony in RC Puram on Friday night, prompting police to book the apartment owner for negligence.According to police, the boy, while playing, wandered into the lift at around 7.03 pm on Friday. His father, Vallala Venkateshwarlu, a watchman and residing in the Suvarna Nilayam apartment, received a phone call from his wife informing him about the incident while he was away at work.Venkateshwarlu then rushed to the apartment and found the lift operators attempting to rescue the child. By the time the boy was pulled out, he had suffered severe injuries to his head and hands. He was immediately shifted in an 108 ambulance to the govt hospital in Patancheru, where doctors examined him at about 7.48 pm and declared him brought dead.The boy's father told TOI that the incident occurred in a five-storeyed building where the lift had allegedly been malfunctioning. "It is still not clear from which floor my son entered the lift. Around 7 pm, residents heard a loud sound and rushed to the spot. The lift was stuck between the first and second floors. By the time they found him, he had suffered severe injuries and was unconscious," Venkateshwarlu said. In his complaint to the RC Puram police, Venkateshwarlu alleged that the lift door had been malfunctioning for nearly 15 days and that repeated issues had gone unattended.He accused the apartment owner of failing to repair the faulty lift and neglecting basic safety measures despite the known defect. Based on the complaint, police officials registered a case and launched probe.