A Turkish mother died in a terrifying elevator accident after the lift she was trapped in suddenly plunged seven stories to the basement — as her husband desperately tried to pry open the doors to save her.
Pelin Yasot Kiyga, a mom of one from Tarsus, Turkey, was heading to work from her seventh-floor apartment on the morning of September 30 when the building’s elevator started to malfunction, according to local media.
Security footage shows her husband, 34-year-old Gokhan Kiyga, frantically trying to open the elevator doors after she called him to say she was stuck inside. At one point, he can be seen using his phone to call for help. Then, moments later — a loud bang. The elevator jammed and plummeted down the shaft to the basement, crashing with massive concrete counterweights.
Gokhan sprinted to the basement and injured his foot trying to reach his wife. Firefighters eventually pulled Pelin from the twisted wreckage and rushed her to the hospital, but she didn’t survive.
Local officials later confirmed the tragedy, saying that “the concrete blocks of the elevator cabin weight accelerated toward the top of the cabin and fell to the ground together with it,” killing Pelin despite efforts to save her.
Authorities in Tarsus have launched a full investigation into the deadly fall. According to Turkish outlet NTV, at least 17 people have already been questioned, including representatives from the elevator company and the property’s management. Three people — including the building’s current and former managers and the property manager — have been taken into custody.
Residents reportedly complained for weeks in a building WhatsApp group that the elevator had been malfunctioning, but it’s unclear if those warnings were ever acted on.
The investigation is ongoing.
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