The National Police are investigating a fatal incident involving a 58-year-old blind man who died on a Wednesday after an elevator shaft accident at a Valencia building. The elevator company technician, who had arrived to repair a device that had malfunctioned the previous day, found the man unconscious at the bottom of the shaft. The incident is being treated as a serious workplace safety and building maintenance matter, with investigators gathering evidence to determine exactly how the accident occurred.
According to information obtained by the Valencia Murder Squad, the victim was on the fifth and top floor of a building at Gran Via Ramón y Cajal 5 when he attempted to use the elevator on his floor. He activated the door, but the door did not open and no one answered afterward. It is believed that the man may have assumed the door would open and possibly stood somewhere near the doorway while the door remained closed. In that moment, he may have decided to go down the stairwell. This sequence is based on initial statements and the pattern of the elevator’s operation that day, with authorities now trying to determine the victim’s exact actions in the moments leading up to the fall. (Valencia National Police)
The man reportedly tried to descend to the fourth floor, but the door remained closed or did not respond, prompting him to continue to the third floor. When he reached the third floor, the door opened, or so it appeared, and he stepped forward. Tragically, he fell into the void, slipping into the shaft as the elevator, which technicians had not yet realized was involved in the accident, remained stuck on the fourth floor. Emergency services were alerted, but the device had not been observed as the source of danger by those nearby. This detail is part of the ongoing investigation and is being reviewed by the responding teams and the building’s maintenance staff. (Valencia National Police)
At present, investigators are focusing on how the door and the elevator mechanism were functioning at the time of the incident. They aim to determine whether the door was left open, whether the device height or the building’s internal configuration contributed to the accident, and whether any mechanical fault caused the elevator to fail to stop at the expected landing. Officials are also trying to establish the approximate time of the incident and why it did not come to light until the elevator operator arrived to inspect the equipment. The case is being treated as a potential combination of equipment failure and human factors, and authorities are reviewing maintenance logs, repair records, and building access controls to piece together the sequence of events. (Valencia National Police)