Elevator doors injure woman

JAKARTA: A shop assistant suffered head injuries on Thursday afternoon after becoming trapped between the doors of an overloaded elevator in the Blok M Plaza, South Jakarta.

The plaza management rushed Hariyati, 19, to the Pertamina Hospital, South Jakarta. A doctor at the hospital, Nino, said that four other people, Nunung, Yanti, Teti and Aini, were in shock after witnessing the accident.

The plaza's duty manager, Martin, said at the hospital that the five girls had just returned from having lunch at 2:30 p.m., and were on the lower ground floor of the plaza.

They entered the elevator, which was already full, but when it reached the upper ground floor the doors would not open. Panicked, Hariyati tried to force the doors open, but instead got trapped between them.

Contacted separately, the plaza director, Stephanus Ridwan, said that the elevator was overloaded as there were 20 people in it when the incident took place.

Stephanus said the elevator was not suffering from any technical problems. However, on Thursday afternoon plaza visitors were prevented from using the elevator as security guards had blocked it off, saying it was out of order. -- JP