Woman Decapitated After Her Earphones Got Stuck In Elevator, Police Say

A woman in Gujarat, India, was decapitated Monday after the cables of her earphones got stuck in an elevator gate at a plastic products manufacturing company, according to the police.

The victim in the case was Sushila Vishwakarma, 48, who used to work as a sanitation help at a factory owned by the Sardar Estate in Vadodara, Gujarat. As per her shift timing, she began working at the site at around 8 a.m. local time (10:30 p.m. EDT, Sunday).

After wrapping up her work on the ground floor, she took an elevator that was used to transport manufacturing products and other heavy materials to get to the fourth floor. Vishwakarma, who was either listening to songs or talking to someone using her earphones, knelt against the railing of the elevator and looked down as she ascended the floors. Authorities suspect as the elevator approached the upper level, her earphones got entangled in the collapsible gate, the Times of India reported.

This reportedly caused her head to get stuck between the slab of the floor and the elevator and the impact caused it to get severed from the rest of her body. When authorities arrived at the scene, they found her head on the ground floor while her body was inside the elevator on the fourth floor. Her earphones remained inside her ears even after decapitation. They had become disconnected from her phone, which was left behind in her hand.

“The elevator, which is without a roof, is used specifically for carrying goods. We are speculating that she was using her phone and absent-mindedly she tried to stick her head outside the lift, which started going up, and the accident happened. So her body was dragged till the last floor and head got severed,” said Investigating Officer M N Saporiya of Bapod police station, Vadodara, the Indian Express reported.

The police said they were yet to figure out why Vishwakarma was looking down when the elevator was ascending. They were treating the case as an accidental death till proven otherwise. Bapod Inspector T R Bamaniya said police were also trying to find out if the elevator was faulty.

The victim’s body was retrieved with the help of firemen and an autopsy was conducted before her remains were handed to her family. Result of the autopsy was pending.