Two Chinese Workers Were In For a Big Surprise After They Unsealed an Elevator One Month After Cutting Off Its Power

Two maintenance workers are under investigation in the death of a 43-year-old woman whose corpse was discovered in an elevator in China more than a month after the workers allegedly had cut off the elevator's power.

The woman, whose name has not yet been publicly released, was found dead inside the elevator in the Chinese city of Xi'an, according to the Associated Press. The two employees have been detained as authorities investigate why they improperly cut off power to the elevator allegedly without checking to see if anyone was inside.

The maintenance crew members had been called to inspect the malfunctioning elevator in a residential building in the Gaoling district of Xi'an on January 30, CNN reported. The elevator apparently had stopped prematurely between the building's 10th and 11th floors, and after the two workers called down from the 11th floor to see whether or not anyone was inside, the elevator, they proceeded to cut off its power supply when they failed to hear an answer.

Servicemen were shocked to find the woman's corpse inside the elevator when they returned to fix the cable and opened the door on March 1, according to USA Today.

“Her hands were distorted … there were scratches on the wall, it was horrible,” a building resident said, according to USA Today.

Although the authorities ruled out foul play in the woman's death, the AP noted that the they determined the cause required charges of involuntary manslaughter, due to gross negligence on the part of the two maintenance workers.

This not the first instance where Chinese workers have come under fire for negligence concerning proper safety procedures. Last July, a Chinese woman was killed after she was swallowed by a mall escalator when a metal platform on top of the escalator suddenly caved in around her, the AP reported. She was holding her two-year-old son at the time before she tossed him to safety as she fell into the crevice.

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