Ouch. This isn't the first one of these we've had on MDS. I forget what the technical term is.... mechanical strangulation? Stay in the elevator people!!
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LONG BEACH, Calif. -- A Cal State Long Beach employee was crushed to death Wednesday in a horrific elevator accident in the university's Foundation Building, authorities said.
Cal State Long Beach spokeswoman Toni Beron said the accident around 9 a.m. when authorities received a call for a woman trapped in an elevator on the third floor of a campus building. The building houses the Cal State Long Beach Foundation, the nonprofit organization that raises money for the university, and classes aren't held there.
The victim was identified as Annette Lujan, a 48-year-old Huntington Beach resident and nine-year employee of the university's grants and contracts office. A co-worker said Lujan had two children.
Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Rich Brandt said the elevator had become stuck in between floors and Lujan was attempting to crawl out when the elevator suddenly shifted down and crushed her. She died at the scene.
"We were hoping it was going to be a rescue mission but it turned out to be a recovery mission," Brandt said.
The LBFD's Urban Search and Rescue team worked for more than an hour using a rope-and-pulley system to hoist the elevator and free the body, he said.
Dozens of distraught university employees gathered outside the building and could be seen consoling one another and wiping away tears. The university sent out an alert to students around 10:30 a.m. notifying them of a death on campus.
The three-story building is about 15 to 20 years old and has two elevators, Beron said. Campus officials said one of the elevators was closed for repairs at the time of the incident. The working elevator, where the accident occurred, had no reported problems before the accident, officials said.
Erika Monterroza, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Industrial Relations, said the elevator passed an annual safety inspection April 5 and its safety requirements were up to date. Elevators must go through a thorough, four-hour safety inspection each year, she added. The LBFD, as well as the state's Department of Industrial Relations and the Occupational Safety Hazard Administration, will be investigating the accident, she said.
Brandt said the tragedy is a reminder for people to never try to free themselves from a trapped elevator.
"Never try to get out of an elevator on your own because it's a mechanical device that's unforgiving," he said. "What we ask people to do is remain calm and wait for help to arrive."
http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_19497474
Do you think any of these people are her?: http://www.facebook.com/search/resul...=Annette Lujan