The Law Was Clear. The System Still Failed.

How weak enforcement and fragmented oversight led to five deaths in Sundbyberg.

One year ago, a construction elevator collapsed at a building site in Sundbyberg, just outside Stockholm. The fall was 20 meters. All five workers inside the lift died.

One of them was 25-year-old Bashir, a young man from Afghanistan who had come to Sweden to work and support his family. He had no relatives in the country. Elisabeth Rundqvist, who had acted as a kind of surrogate mother to him, was listed as his next of kin.

The tragedy was widely covered in Swedish media. In an emotional interview on TV4’s Nyhetsmorgon, hosted by Soraya Lavasani and Jona Källgren, Rundqvist described Bashir’s ambition and determination. He had trained as a welder in Afghanistan and quickly found his way into the Swedish labor market. He was, she said, on the verge of reuniting with his wife.