Family farewells 6-year-old girl killed in Mexico hospital elevator accident
Mexico City, Jul 12 (EFE).- Family and friends gathered Wednesday to bid farewell to the 6-year-old girl who was killed after becoming trapped in a moving elevator at a public hospital in southeastern Mexico.
According to local media, on Wednesday morning the girl’s body arrived in her home state of Yucatán for funeral rites, and it was expected that she would be buried in the afternoon.
The girl had been taken to Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) No. 18 hospital in Playa del Carmen in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo with suspected dengue fever.
On Monday night she was being transferred by hospital staff on a gurney into the elevator, which began to ascend even though the doors were open and the gurney was not fully inside, crushing the girl.
In his Wednesday morning press conference, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador promised justice and assured that those responsible will be punished.
According to the IMSS, the maintenance of the elevator is contracted to an external provider.
Hours before the accident, a failure had been reported in the elevator and a company technician came to repair it, but had left again without having erected signs or barriers preventing its use, El Pais Mexico reported, citing the hospital.
On Wednesday afternoon, the IMSS said it had decided to remove officials in charge of upkeep and maintenance of the hospital from office while the investigations are carried out and responsibilities are determined.
In addition, a criminal complaint was filed against the company in charge of the elevators and other persons who may be responsible.
So far, the Quintana Roo State Attorney General’s Office has announced that it has opened an investigation and noted that a man is in custody while the causes of the events are determined. EFE
csr/tw
