SAO PAULO, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Three construction workers died on Monday when the forklift elevator they were in plummeted 17 floors at a building site in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Fire Department reported.

According to the report, the three victims, aged 20, 26 and 43, were riding the forklift elevator installed on the outside of a residential building under construction in the city's Butanta neighborhood at the time of the incident.

The construction company told local media it will wait for the results of police investigation to clear up what happened.

The mayor of Sao Paulo, South America's largest city, lamented the deaths and verified that the construction project had corresponding permits. ■