A 22 year old woman who the police are referring to as S Ambiga was involved in a lethal accident at a Nokia manufacturing plant in Sriperumbudur where she had been working for over 3 years. On Sunday, October 31st, her neck got caught in a machine located in the “loader phase-III” area of the plant. She was immediately taken to the hospital, but doctors could not save her.
“Ambiga had opened the inspection door of the loading machine when it got stuck. She was supposed to call the floor leader for such work but opened it herself. If the door is opened, the machine switches off automatically. But it can also be operated even if the doors are open and the girl had switched it on, unmindful of the danger. Her neck got trapped between the door and the tray. When she screamed, the others switched off the machine and broke open the trays to rescue her,” said Sriperumbudur deputy superintendent of police V Balasubramaniam.
The factory, which employees around 7,000 people, 70% of whom are women, was closed the following Monday out of respect for Ambiga. Nokia also issued the following statement:
“We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident and we offer our condolences and deepest sympathies to the family of our colleague in India. As a mark of respect, we closed our facility in Chennai on November 1st and members of our senior management have met with the family of our colleague.
We are investigating this tragic incident thoroughly and we are also collaborating with local authorities in India with full transparency. While it would inappropriate and insensitive to the family of our colleague to comment on the details of this accident until the full facts are known, we can say that the details being reported by some online media and tabloid publications are simply untrue.”
Accidents happen all the time. In High School I knew some kid who got his hand chopped off while working at the docks. Still, we wish Ambiga’s family the best.
[Via: Slashgear]