An engineer has died after an elevator collapsed from the 25th floor of an under-construction building in India.

The 28-year-old man was trying to remove a temporary elevator (used for transporting construction materials) from the 25th floor of the building Monday. The supporting system couldn't bear the load and it plummeted straight to the ground, NDTV reported.

The engineer, who was employed by a private construction company, suffered serious injuries in the fall and was rushed to a nearby hospital. However, he was declared dead by doctors.

The incident happened in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

"The deceased has been identified as 28-year-old Ritik Rathore, a native of Firozabad district. He had come to remove the temporary lift and during the process, the supporting system could not bear the load of the lift, which crashed on the ground," Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (Greater Noida) Dinesh Kumar Singh told NDTV.

"Rathore suffered severe injuries and was rushed to a private hospital but he did not survive," Singh said, adding they were carrying out the legal proceedings in the case.

Those responsible for the engineer's death will be arrested, Noida Police Commissioner Lakshmi Singh told the Times of India.

Another officer said the elevator was installed at the site for a one-year period and the service provider company was removing it Monday. The building already has a full-service elevator, the officer added.

In a similar incident in 2020, a 39-year-old supermarket employee was crushed to death by a freight elevator at her workplace in midtown Manhattan. The woman, who was working at the supermarket named Food Emporium, was loading the freight elevator at the cellar level. The elevator, which reportedly was faulty, started moving toward the first floor during the loading process, hitting the woman on her head. The woman suffered fatal head injuries and her body was later discovered by her co-workers.

Labourers work at the construction site of a commercial building in New Delhi
Reuters