IN A scene right out of a horror film, a 24-year-old intern nurse in Shenzhen, China, was decapitated after she tried to step out of a malfunctioning lift, only for the half-opened lift to suddenly plunge to the basement, dragging her body for about 4 metres.

The woman, surnamed Wang, died instantly in the May 15 incident, said Chinese broadcaster CCTV, her blood spattering the lift and some of the fellow passengers in the crowded lift.

The woman, who was seen in what looked like a nurse's uniform, was working as an intern at a hospital in the building and she appeared to have had her head down, intent on the screen of the mobile phone, as she stepped out of the lift on the third floor.

The deadly lift malfunction happened in Changhong Mansion, a commercial building in Luohu district of Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said Global Times report, quoting local authorities.