BERLIN—A man died on Thursday after an accident involving an old-fashioned jump-on, jump-off elevator in Berlin, authorities in the German capital said.

The accident happened in a building in a central district, the fire service said, and 30 officers were sent to the scene.

Fire service spokesperson Dominik Preetz told public broadcaster RBB that the man, who was apparently descending from an upper floor, got stuck in the machinery of the lift between two floors and suffered severe injuries, dying at the scene. It wasn’t clear how the accident happened.

Such so-called paternoster elevators still survive in some German public buildings. The one where the accident happened houses an ophthalmological clinic and a physiotherapy center among other things.