Three lift technicians were injured, two of whom critically, when a lift under repair at a building in Sunninghill plunged several meters to the ground below this morning.
The cause of the incident and the series of events preceding it remain uncertain and will form the subject of a National Department of Labour investigation.
Common cause information suggests that the lift had been suspended on the third floor by ropes while the men conducted repairs, seated on the roof.
The ropes appear to have given way or snapped, sending the lift plummeting to the ground below.
Netcare911 Paramedics arrived at the scene to find that the technicians had been dragged to safety by their colleagues and had been lain near the lift doors. Two men were in a critical condition and a third had sustained serious injuries.
The three were stabilised at the scene and transported by ambulance to the Netcare Sunninghill Hospital for further urgent care.