A woman in China was recently found dead in the elevator of her apartment building.
A major controversy is brewing in the Chinese city of Xi'an and beyond after a woman died while trapped inside an elevator for over a month.
Authorities in the country's northwest say a woman in her forties and identified only by her last name, Wu, was inside an elevator in her own apartment building when workers shut it off because of mechanical issues.
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For over 30 days, no one heard the woman's screams for help. When they found her dead, some reports say she had one hand pressed against the elevator door, reports the New York Times.
Woman in China dies after being trapped in her apartment's broken elevator for 30 days https://t.co/16xyVBg17S pic.twitter.com/6qjuP81Bxz
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No one checked to see if anyone was inside the elevator before it was shut off, authorities said.
Now, as news of the gruesome death spreads, the already widespread discontent in China over what are seen as dangerous conditions in many residential buildings has reached fever pitch.
In particular, people want to know why simple precautions weren't taken to ensure this easily preventable calamity never happened.
After the two repairmen shut the elevator down as it sat between the ninth and tenth floors, they left it unrepaired for over a month.
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"What if the management staff had gone to look inside the elevator before shutting off the power? Would this tragedy have happened?" asked one regional paper translated by the Times.
According to the Los Angeles Times, local authorities have called the tragedy a case of "gross negligence" and have placed the blame on at least one "responsible person."
The case has reportedly been classified as a negligent homicide.
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