This is a list of elevator accidents by death toll. It does not include accidents involving gondola lifts, ski lifts or similar types of cable transport.
In the Vaal Reefs mining disaster, a locomotive crashed through a safety barrier and fell into a mine shaft, hitting an elevator which was carrying 104 workers and causing it to plunge to the bottom of the shaft. [1] [2]
Deaths | Injuries | Date | Incident | Location |
---|---|---|---|---|
104 | 0 | 1995-05-10 | In the Vaal Reefs mining disaster, a locomotive crashed through a safety barrier and fell into a mine shaft, hitting an elevator which was carrying 104 workers and causing it to plunge to the bottom of the shaft. [3] [4] | Orkney, South Africa |
62 | 0 | 1987-08-31 | A methane gas explosion at the St. Helena gold mine severed the cable of a double-deck elevator, causing it to fall 1.4 kilometers to the bottom of the mine shaft, killing all 52 people on board. 10 others who were not in the elevator were killed in the explosion. [5] [6] | Welkom, South Africa |
31 | 0 | 1980-03-27 | A descending elevator became stuck in the Vaal Reefs mine shaft and then fell to the bottom of the shaft when it abruptly became unstuck, killing all 31 miners on board. [7] [8] | Orkney, South Africa |
19 | 0 | 2012-09-13 | An elevator fell about 100 meters at a construction site, killing everyone on board. [9] | Wuhan, China |
19 | 1 | 1932-10-10 | A mine-shaft elevator carrying 20 people fell at the Bickershaw Colliery, killing all but one person. [10] [11] | Leigh, England |
18 | 11 | 1973-07-30 | A mine-shaft elevator fell at the Markham Colliery. [12] | Chesterfield, England |
16 | 1918-09-10 | Protection Island mining disaster: A mine-shaft elevator cable snapped causing the elevator to plunge to the bottom of the mine. [13] | Protection Island, Canada | |
13 | 73 | 2023-11-27 | A mine elevator fell 200 m in the Impala Platinum mine shaft accident. [14] [15] | Rustenburg, South Africa |
12 | 0 | 2008-10-30 | An elevator plunged to the ground at a construction site. [16] | Xiapu County, China |
12 | 0 | 1993-06-02 | An elevator plunged to the ground from the 20th floor at a construction site. [17] | North Point, Hong Kong |
11 | 2 | 2019-04-25 | An elevator fell at a construction site due to a snapped cable. [18] | Hengshui, China |
11 | 4 | 2011-07-29 | A mine-shaft elevator fell at the Bazhanov coal mine. [19] | Makiivka, Ukraine |
10 | 5 | 1964-03-27 | A steel cable hit a mine-shaft elevator at the Sachsen coal mine, killing 10 workers, including 5 Turkish nationals. [20] | Heeßen, Germany |
10 | 0 | 2014-09-06 | An elevator plunged 32 stories at a construction site. [21] | Istanbul, Turkey |
9 | 0 | 2011-08-09 | An elevator fell from the 22nd floor at a building under construction due to a snapped cable. [22] | Salvador de Bahia, Brazil |
8–10 | 0-2 | 1904-01-13 | A crowd of employees at a Brown Shoe Company factory was waiting for the elevator when someone raised the gate, causing 10 people to fall down the shaft. At least 8 people were killed and two others suffered fatal injuries. [23] [24] | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
8 | 0 | 2016-07-15 | A construction elevator fell from the 18th story of an apartment building under construction. [25] | Longkou, China |
7 | 0 | 1989-05-21 | An elevator fell at the Príncipes de España Hospital, killing 7 visitors. [26] | L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain |
6 | 1 | 2019-12-31 | A temporary elevator at an under-construction tower at a farmhouse fell from a height of 30 metres (98 ft) when the cable broke during a New Year's Eve party. A businessman and five members of his family were killed. Another relative was critically injured. [27] [28] [29] | Patalpani, Madhya Pradesh, India |
6 | 0 | 2018-09-04 | An elevator fell about 20 stories at a construction site. [30] | Tehran, Iran |
6 | 0 | 2017-01-05 | Six men fell out of a mine-shaft elevator due to a broken control switch. [31] | Mogok Township. Myanmar |
6 | 0 | 2019-03-09 | A construction elevator fell from the 15th floor. [32] | Karachi, Pakistan |
5 | 12+ | 1957-03-20 | A construction elevator carrying 21 people plunged five floors when the cable broke. [33] [34] | Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |
5 | 0 | 1999-09-07 | An elevator carrying 5 painters fell from the 10th floor at an apartment building under construction, killing everyone on board. [35] | Yongin, South Korea |
5 | 0 | 2009-04-02 | Workers fell from an elevator at a construction site. [36] | Laiwu, China |
5 | 0 | 2023-09-01 | Five hotel employees were killed when the cable of an inclined elevator they were on snapped, causing the lift to fall down 100 metres (330 ft) into a ravine. The victims were brought to a hospital, but all died during or shortly after the incident. [37] | Ubud, Bali, Indonesia |
5 | 0 | 2023-12-11 | Five construction workers were killed when an construction-site elevator failed and fell 20 m (66 ft) to the ground. [38] | Stockholm, Sweden |
4 | 0 | 1973-04-12 | A flash fire swept through an elevator at the Sears Tower, killing four elevator mechanics who were using cleaning fluid to rub down elevator guide rails. [39] | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
4 | 14 | 1903-05-22 | An elevator at the Donnelly Building fell from the 5th or 6th floor when the steel cable snapped, causing it to crash through the floor above the basement. [40] It was caused by overloading and the elevator had an insufficient capacity. No charges were filed. [41] | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
4 | 3 | 1938-04 | A mine-shaft elevator fell 800 feet (244 m) at a gold mine. [42] | Beardmore, Ontario, Canada |
4 | 3 | 1909-03-25 | An elevator fell about 60 feet (18 m) at a wool warehouse at St Katharine Docks [43] | London, England |
4 | 1 | 2018-09-04 | An elevator fell from the sixth floor of a hotel under construction. Overload of people and construction materials was blamed for the accident. [44] | Pailin Province, Cambodia |
4 | 0 | 1958-04-16 | An elevator at a dam at the Snowy Mountains Scheme fell about 400 feet (122 m) when the cable broke, killing 4 Italian employees of a French construction firm. [45] | Near Cabramurra, Australia |
4 | 0 | 2019-12-30 | An elevator at a Brazilian Navy apartment building fell from the 9th floor when the cabin became detached from the cable system, killing four members of a family. [46] | Santos, São Paulo, Brazil |
3 | 7 | 1932-09 | An elevator fell 150 feet (46 m) down a shaft when the cable broke. [47] | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
3 | 3 | 2019-08-14 | An elevator carrying 4 workers fell from the 15th floor at an apartment building under construction, killing 3 of them and seriously injuring the 4th. Two workers on the ground were also injured. [48] | Sokcho, South Korea |
3 | 2+ | 1892-03-15 | Workers at a boiler factory were using a freight elevator to lift heavy machinery when the rope broke. Three workers were killed instantly and two others suffered fatal injuries. Several others suffered minor injuries. [49] | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
2 | 16 | 1920-08-29 | An elevator plunged from the 10th floor at the Clarendon Building when the main cable broke. [50] | New York City, New York, U.S. |
2 | 11 | 1902-10 | An elevator fell at a shoe factory. [51] | Lynn, Massachusetts, U.S. |
2 | 10 | 1946-12-11 | An elevator dropped 35 feet (11 m) at the American Woolen Company Foxcroft Mill, after which the cables and other items crashed through the roof. [52] | Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, U.S. |
2 | 6 | 1904-09 | A freight elevator carrying ten people fell three stories at a Sears store. The freight elevator was being used because the passenger elevator was out of service for repairs. [53] | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
2 | 2 | 2020-01-01 | Four people were in an elevator at an apartment building when it lost power as a result of a fire on the ground floor. The elevator stopped and the cabin filled with smoke, rendering the victims unconscious. A 39-year-old man and his 4-year-old son were killed, while the 36-year-old mother and the couple's 8-year-old daughter were seriously injured. The fire was likely caused by fireworks and two boys, aged 12 and 13, were arrested on suspicion of arson. [54] | Arnhem, Netherlands |
2 | 1 | 1987-08-29 | A mechanical fault caused a construction elevator at Scotia Plaza to hurtle upwards at 100 km/h, killing two workers and seriously injuring another when it crashed at the top. [55] [56] | Toronto, Canada |
2 | 0 | 2017-05-09 | The floor of an elevator gave way between the 6th and 9th floor of an apartment building, causing two teenagers to fall down the elevator shaft. [57] | Madrid, Spain |
2 | 0 | 2002-08-23 | A temporary elevator fell 19 floors at an office tower under construction. [58] | New York City, New York, U.S. |
2 | 0 | 1999-05-13 | An elevator plunged four or five floors at a warehouse, killing two maintenance workers who were trying to take the elevator out of service. [59] | South Kearny, New Jersey, U.S. |
2 | 0 | 2020-01-04 | A young couple drowned in a flooded elevator in south Tel Aviv during heavy rainfall. [60] | Tel Aviv, Israel |
1 | 0 | 2022-10-02 | A 74-year-old man was severely injured in an elevator of a housing society in Borivali, Mumbai. He died due to injuries on 11 October, 2022. [61] | Mumbai, India |
0 | 1 | 2022-11-01 | A 16-year-old girl was severely injured in an elevator when her head was stuck in a small opening of a lift door. | Mumbai, India |
1 | 0 | 2023-03-19 | A 29-year-old man died after an open lift of a building allegedly malfunctioned in central Delhi's Kamla Market | Delhi, India |
2 | 0 | 2023-03-18 | Two construction workers were killed when a lift carrying them collapsed from the 16th floor to the ground due to a technical error. | Vijayawada, India |
2 | 6 | 2023-02-17 | Two labourers were killed and six others injured when a cargo lift collapsed inside a cold storage facility in Chitra GIDC in Bhavnagar, Gujarat | Bhavnagar, India |
1 | 0 | 2022-09-16 | A 26-year-old teacher from Vasai, Palghar succumbed to injuries, in an elevator accident of the St. Mary's School, Malad, Mumbai. [62] [63] | Mumbai, India |
1 | 0 | 2012-06-25 | An office building elevator started moving while an employee was holding the door with his leg. [64] [65] | Tel Aviv, Israel |
1 | 0 | 2014-09-14 | An elevator began moving at the moment an architecture student began to board, pinning him between the elevator floor and ceiling of the floor he was departing. [66] | Xiamen, China |
1 | 0 | 2023-08-01 | An elevator at Lagos Island General Hospital, Odan, crashed to the ground, killing doctor Vwaere Diaso. [67] | Lagos, Nigeria |
1 | 15 | 2023-10-26 | An elevator at a student dormitory in Aydın, crashed to the ground, killing student Zeren Ertaş and injuring 15 others. [68] | Aydın, Turkey |
0 | 1 | 2024-03-21 | A 67-year old man was severely injured when a hydraulic elevator plunged two floors due to a mechanical failure. [69] | Neustadt an der Aisch, Germany |
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The Vaal Reefs mine disaster occurred on 10 May 1995 when an underground locomotive in the Vaal Reefs gold mine in South Africa fell into the mine shaft, hitting an elevator carrying mine workers, and causing it to plunge to the bottom of the shaft, killing 104 miners. It is the worst elevator accident in history.
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