One person died and another was injured in two elevator-related accidents in Shanghai over the weekend, just after the local quality control bureau launched its latest round of annual elevator inspections, local media reported.

The two accidents, one in a department store on Nanjing Road East and the other in a residential building in Songjiang district, occurred a week after the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Quality and Technical Supervision announced its plan to inspect 700 elevators and escalators this year.

The two accidents have heightened concern over elevator safety in the city after a series of high profile elevator accidents occurred recently around the country. In Wuhan, Hubei Province, 19 workers died on September 13 when a construction elevator crashed to the ground from the 34th floor of a residential building that was under construction.

Shanghai witnessed seven deaths and four injuries due to elevator and escalator malfunctions last year, according to the quality control bureau. There are 110,000 elevators operating in Shanghai at present.

In the latest case, a woman, 27, who lived on the 16th floor of a building in the Sun City residential community in Jiuting town, had just ridden the elevator down with her husband to the first floor when the door unexpectedly shut before she could follow him out, according to an employee of the community's property management company.

"The door closed so quickly that there wasn't enough time for the woman to step out. The elevator then unexpectedly dropped to the basement level before rising to the 27th floor at a fairly fast speed," according to another employee, surnamed Cai.

The elevator stopped after it crashed into the top of the elevator shaft, before settling between the 27th and the 28th floors, a witness told the news website Eastday.com.

"The woman suffered several fractures and a cracked skull. But she is in stable condition after she was taken to the hospital," Cai told the Global Times.

Cai said the elevator maintenance company that the property company hired hadn't been able to identify what caused the problem.

"The safety inspection authority will send experts to look into the accident Monday," Cai added.

The Songjiang District Administration of Work Safety could not be reached by the Global Times Sunday.

Cai said the Sun City community had 80 elevators in total, all from the same manufacturer, Schindler, an international elevator and escalator maker based in Switzerland.

Schindler's Shanghai office could not be reached for comment as of Sunday evening.

In Hualian, a department store on Nanjing Road East, a tourist from Hunan province died after falling into an elevator shaft from the sixth floor while the elevator was under maintenance, according to a report on Eastday.com.

There was no warning sign outside the elevator when the women walked into the shaft.