KARACHI: A 26-year-old delivery man died from head injuries when he fell into the lift shaft from the third floor of a multi-storey building in Clifton due to the faulty landing door of the lift, which opened although the lift car was not at the floor, officials said on Thursday.

They added that Sajjad Raza, a delivery man of a foreign food chain went to the third floor of the Columbus Towers in Clifton on Wednesday at around 8.30pm. He delivered the parcel there, but did not return to his restaurant.

His employer continued trying to contact him on his cell phone, but he did not attend the call. The employer also contacted the person to whom the food was delivered, who stated that they had received the delivery. Subsequently, the employer visited the multi-storey building and found the delivery man’s motorbike parked outside it. When they could not locate him, the employers reported the incident to police on late Wednesday night.

On Thursday at around 11.45am Sajjad was found dead in the lift shaft, said a police officer.

The police officer added that it was a faulty lift, which malfunctioned.

After delivering the food at the third floor, the deliveryman returned and pressed the elevator door control button and unsuspectingly stepped into the lift assuming that the car would be there, which was not there, and fell into the lift shaft, the police added.

The body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for a post-mortem examination.

“We will proceed as per law if the employer or the family files a complaint,” said Karachi-South SSP Saqib Ismail Memon.

It appeared to be a case of negligence on the part of the management of the building.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2016