A Chinese maintenance crew were detained after a woman was found dead in a lift that had its power cut off a month earlier.

Two maintenance workers turned off the power source on January 30 in a residential building after they were called to check on a fault, but they failed to check if anyone was inside the lift.

The Gaoling district government in the north-western city of Xi'an said the maintenance crew found a female corpse there on March 1 when they returned to carry out the repairs.

It says the woman was a resident who was living by herself.

The local district says her death was caused by negligence in a case of involuntary manslaughter.

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