Shocked residents

After fatal accident: “It cracked so loudly”

The accident occurred in this apartment building in Linz's Markatstraße.

(Bild: @Flashpictures)

The residents of an apartment building in Linz are shocked after a fitter had a fatal accident while working on the elevator. The rescue of the deceased was also stressful for the firefighters, who had to help their young comrades. An expert is now to clarify why the accident occurred.

Thick rain clouds hang over the apartment building in Linz's Makartstraße one day after the fatal accident at work. At around 8.30 a.m. on Wednesday, a 30-year-old fitter from Styria fell to his death in the elevator car while working on the building's elevator.

Extremely loud bang heard
Several residents were not at home at the time, including a young woman who we meet at the door during the site inspection. "I was at work and only found out about the accident from the newspaper." Everyone who was at home speaks of an extremely loud bang.

"Accident is a catastrophe"
"We were immediately shocked," says an elderly lady on the ground floor, and a woman on the third floor says: "I said 'good morning' to the workers and had to go to a hospital appointment half an hour later. When I was in the garden, there was an incredibly loud crash." The residents are devastated, "this accident is a disaster", she concludes.

But not everyone was aware of the accident, one senior citizen says: "I was still lying in bed." The children from the school housed in the Sacred Heart of Jesus parish opposite didn't notice anything either, as a church service was taking place at the time.

Stressful operation
Comrades from the Linz professional fire department had to rescue the victim from the lift shaft. "That was quite stressful", says incident commander Gerhard Krenn, "in the evening there was a crisis meeting for young colleagues". First, an emergency doctor was roped down into the three-metre-deep pit, then, after the criminal investigation department, Florianis descended to the deceased with ladders and then pulled him up with a stretcher.

Cause of the accident still unclear
The fitters are said to have been working in the residential complex for several days, as the elevators there are routinely replaced. The fatal accident then occurred during the dismantling of a cabin. The Linz public prosecutor's office has appointed an expert to clarify the cause of the accident.