Court Overturns Ban on Company Behind Fatal Elevator Accident of Girl Aitana

Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo — A federal administrative court has overturned the two-year suspension of Soluciones Integrales de Transportación Vertical en México (Sitravem), the company deemed primarily responsible for the death of 7-year-old Aitana in a hospital elevator in July 2023.

The Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJA) ruled in December that the ban, imposed by the Secretariat of Public Administration in summer 2024, was based on an outdated Mexican Official Standard (NOM) for elevator use. The suspension was set to expire in July 2026.

Sitravem challenged the penalty in September 2024, filing an administrative nullity lawsuit before the TFJA’s Eleventh Regional Chamber in Mexico City. According to case file 21162/24-17-11-1, the company argued that the NOM cited in the sanction had already lost legal force.

“The sanction is illegal because it was imposed based on alleged non-compliance with a Mexican Official Standard that had already lost its validity,” the ruling states. “In the opinion of the undersigned magistrate and magistrates, the annulment claim is well-founded.”

The accident occurred in July 2023 at the IMSS General Hospital Zone 18 in Playa del Carmen, when Aitana was crushed by an elevator. The case sparked national outrage. Nearly three years later, no one — neither IMSS officials nor Sitravem employees — has been arrested in connection with her death.