Indian workers in Bahrain survive 45-floor elevator fall

Dubai, Nov 14 : Eleven Indian workers in Bahrain had a miraculous escape when an elevator they were asked to test in a newly constructed building fell 45 floors to the ground.

The workers were reportedly asked to act as human weights in the new elevator at a residential tower in Manama Thursday when the incident occurred.

“The men were ordered to enter the elevator to be human weights to check if the elevator would hold their weight,” the Gulf Daily News quoted sources as saying.

“Though they protested, it fell on deaf ears,” it added.

The men were later treated in a hospital for neck, back and leg injuries.

Those injured were Ravi Vislawath, 26, Kilbero Raja David, 38, Thourya Lambadi Noonavath, 28, Raseed Hafiz Khan, 29, Limnaiah Akula, 31, Senthilkumar Parthasarathi, 32, Shanawaz Akhtar Pal, 28, Ratan Lal Maloa, 40, Nampelli Mathi, 46, Pedda Rajanna Manala, 46, and Sriram Lambani Banavath, 37.

A doctor at the Salmaniya Medical Complex (SMC) said the workers were lucky to be alive.

“They were also suffering from the shock of the fall because it seems they fell from the 45th floor of the building,” P.V. Cheriyan, accident and emergency department chief resident at SMC, said.

“They could even have gone into a coma for the rest of their lives. Their bodies are still recovering from the direct trauma of the fall from such a great height,” Cheriyan said.

The project’s main contractor is Al Hamad Construction and Development Company, while J.A. Zayani and Sons held the contract for the lift.

The lift contractor has now launched a probe into the incident.

“The lift was not yet commissioned for the project,” a spokesman for J.A. Zayani and Sons was quoted as saying. “It was still at the installation stage and was not supposed to be used at the time.”

Bahrain’s labour ministry has also launched an investigation into the incident.