BRI Provides Clarification on Free Fall Elevator Incident

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Corporate Secretary of Bank BRI, Hari Siaga, denied the rumors saying that an elevator at the BRI 2 office building had plummeted. “It isn’t true that an elevator at BRI 2 had plummeted from the third floor,” Hari said on Friday, January 20, 2017.

Hari explained that the elevator had overrun its intended floor when descending. Based on the CCTV camera recordings, the elevator can be seen moving down to the ground floor. But instead of stopping, the elevator kept on moving 50 centimeters downward from its intended position. 

There was even contact between the elevator car with the springs installed at the bottom of the elevator shaft.

The impact created a shock which caused the elevator panels to detach from its position and fell on a number of people inside. “It exceeded 50 centimeters away,” he said.

The Bank BRI official also stated that the elevator always receives proper maintenance, despite this, the building management still issued a maintenance check to further ensure its safety.

Based on witness testimony, Mahatma Abiyoso, the free-fall elevator happened on the third floor. “I went up from the 11th floor to the 12th floor, then it descended, where the loss took place on the third floor,” he said.

Mahatma said, during the incident at the BRI office building, the lift was full and some of the passengers injured due to the elevator panels that detached from its position.

INGE KLARA SAFITRI