The screams came first, then the crash. Ketut Suwiarta, a cook at the Ayuterra Resort in Bali’s Ubud district, was nearby when five of his colleagues stepped into the hotel’s glass-encased lift on Friday afternoon. Moments later the steel cable snapped.
The lift runs on a track up a 35-degree slope. It dropped the five workers about 100 metres down a steep embankment, according to Indonesian media. The accident happened at around 1pm.
Suwiarta saw the broken cable and ran to help the victims while calling the authorities. Three of the five were still breathing when they were rushed to a nearby hospital. All died there shortly afterwards.
The victims
The dead were two men and three women, all from the hotel’s housekeeping department. They were named as Sang Putu Bayu Adi Krisna, 19; Wayan Aries Setiawan, 23; Ni Luh Superningsih, 20; Kadek Hardiyanti, 24; and Kadek Yanti Pradewi, 19.
Why the cable failed
Ubud police chief Made Uder said officers are working out why it broke. Early findings point to overloading: the lift was too heavy for the cable. He told Tribune News: “It is possible that the steel cable was not strong enough to pull the load and the safety wedge or brake does not work.”
Police are also checking for negligence and for a lack of maintenance.
Resort owner Linggawati Utomo offered her condolences to the families. “All costs for funeral rites and burial will be borne by us,” she said. “We will also give the families some compensation.”
Sources
Sources
- Bali hotel workers die after lift cable snaps, plunging them …
- Bali lift collapse kills five at popular resort on holiday …
