Mumbai: Female employee deployed on COVID-19 duty at St George Hospital found dead inside a lift

Mumbai: A 43-year-old Class IV employee was found dead in the lift at the St George Hospital. Her body was recovered by hospital staff and the police are investigating the case. Dr Aakash Khobragade, medical superintendent, St George Hospital, confirmed the death, saying a hospital employee had spotted the body.

Employed with the hospital for six years, since the hospital turned into a Covid centre, she had continuously been on the job, working multiple shifts. Dr Khobragade said the incident occurred on Wednesday morning when she was found lying in a pool of blood, with a fractured head inside a stationary lift on the hospital’s second floor. She was reportedly on her way to the second floor in the lift when she collapsed.

“As per preliminary information, the victim sustained a head injury after her hair got caught in the lift door and caused her scalp to be pulled off,” said Dr Khobragade. “The body has been sent to JJ Hospital for postmortem examination. The exact cause of death will be known after the autopsy report,” he said.

However, the hospital administration has refuted allegations that she could have died due to a fatal head injury caused by the malfunctioning of the lift. A senior police officer said, “The incident occurred at 10.30 am on Wednesday, following which the doctors declared that a wooden plank had come off the elevator; and, while she was looking out through the grille doors, she was hit by a mechanical iron part on the head and died at 11.15 am.”

LOCUSTS FAN OUT

In Maharashtra, the swarms of locusts, which had entered Katol and Parseoni in Nagpur district over the last four days, might move towards Ramtek city, though it is difficult to predict their exact flying course, a senior agriculture department official was quoted as saying by NDTV. The swarms, stretching up to 17 km in length, had first entered farms in Fetri and Khangaon in Katol in Nagpur district and in Ashti taluka in Wardha district on Saturday night and Sunday, where they damaged orange crop and vegetable plantations in some areas, before moving towards Parseoni tehsil on Monday night.