A 39-year-old died after being struck by an elevator in a residential apartment complex in Suraram, Medchal. According to police, the victim, Akbar Patel, was attempting to retrieve a cricket ball that had fallen into the lift shaft from the cellar level of the building. While he was leaning into the shaft to search for the ball, the lift, which was on an upper floor, was suddenly activated. “As the elevator descended, it struck the victim on the head with fatal force. The impact was so severe that he died on the spot,” a police official said. An investigation is underway into the circumstances leading to the mishap.