Woman killed after getting trapped, suffocating at Columbia construction site, coroner says

A woman working at a construction site in Columbia was killed Tuesday, according to the coroner's office.

Diane M. Smith, 49, died after being involved in a construction incident, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said.

The Lumberton, N.C., woman was working on scissor lift at a job site when she became trapped between the ceiling and the railing of the lift, according to Watts.

Watts said an autopsy showed that the cause of death was due to traumatic asphyxiation, which is the loss of the ability to breathe brought on by intense compression of the chest, according to medicinenet.com.

The incident occurred at 12:45 p.m. at 4546 Broad River Road, Watts said.

It is a construction site for a South Carolina Department of Mental Health project, according to Jeffrey Taillon, the communications director for the S.C. Department of Corrections.

Despite the traumatic incident, Smith was not immediately killed. She was taken to an area hospital, where she was later declared dead, Watts said.

The construction site is near the South Carolina Department of Corrections campus, the Women's Correctional Center and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division building.

Watts said he does not expect any criminal charges to come from the fatal incident, but he confirmed that OSHA has been notified about Smith's death at the work site.

This story was originally published May 2, 2018 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Woman killed after getting trapped, suffocating at Columbia construction site, coroner says."