Maid dies while trying to escape from balcony

A 23-year-old housemaid died yesterday morning while trying to escape from her employer's sixth floor apartment, police said.

The Indonesian woman had tried to escape from the balcony of the apartment in Al Buteenah. A Sharjah police statement said the woman had tied bed sheets together to use as a rope.

However, she either slipped or the makeshift rope gave way, and she banged her head on the floor. The woman died instantly.

Sharjah police sources told Gulf News the housemaid had been in the UAE for a few months. She was working for her sponsor, a Moroccan woman. Initial investigations have revealed the employer had frequently locked up the housemaid.

Witnesses said the employer was not at home when the accident happened. Staff from a nearby supermarket saw the housemaid fall and reported the incident to the police.

A team from Al Heera Police Station rushed to the scene and moved the woman's body to the Sharjah criminal laboratory. An autopsy will be conducted soon to specify the cause of death.

A police source said similar incidents have been reported in the recent past in Sharjah and other emirates.

"It has come to our attention that an increasing number of expatriate sponsors lock up their housemaids. We call on employers to treat housemaids humanely," the source said.