(From AFP)
China’s Internet users on Monday lamented the callousness of the country’s teeming cities following the discovery of a woman’s body a month after she was trapped in a malfunctioning elevator.
The 43-year-old, reportedly suffering from mental illness but living alone, was stuck in the elevator in the northern city of Xian in late January when maintenance workers shut off the power without properly checking if anyone was inside at the time, Chinese media said previously.
Her body was found 30 days later as the crew left for the annual Lunar New Year holiday and did not return until March 1.
Chinese web users were shocked by the accident, deploring the indifference of relationships in modern society.
“I thought such things would only take place in the wild,” one user posted on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
“But actually the crowded cities are nothing but just a forest of steel — we are surrounded by so many people and have so many ‘good friends’ in (online) chat groups but there are few that really have anything to do with you.”
Another user said she was haunted by fears of a solitary existence.
“I’m so afraid of becoming a woman so disliked, living alone and with no one showing any interest in me,” she wrote.
Those responsible for the incident have been detained by police, reports said, without specifying whether they were the maintenance crew or others involved.
Many residents interviewed by local Chinese media said the building management service was poor and routinely ignored residents’ complaints about the frequently broken elevators. After the woman’s body was discovered, residents staged a protest against the building management.
“There’s now a shadow across my heart. It’s scary, and it gives me shivers,” one resident surnamed Ding said. “To think of this happening in one’s own building.” Read More