Something similar happened to me in short 3.17 test.
For a quick recap: elevators (or lifts, if you are civilized) are separate "moving maps". When you step into a lift you'll perform a quick map transition, then again when getting out of it. In the mean time it's supposed to move from A to B (following neat spline paths that are very unlike any physical lift, let's call it "eldritch transfer"). Also when you invoke a lift (through the still very unresponsive button..) it will transfer from some zero coordinates in the map to its intended location where doors should open: sometimes in previous patches we could see the "flying doors" moving across and reach their final position.
So now here's what I've seen in 3.17, in addition of the above: the lift itself will fail to materialize but it's "moving map" and associated coordinate system will still be there. When stepping in or even near it (I got caught just waiting in front of the door..) the coordinate "jump" will trigger something in the physics engine that says "now suddenly your character is moving at a good fraction of light speed". What follows is your character going through geometry, or ending up in totally different coordinates, depending on how the servers decide to resolve that: given what I've seen in 3.17 so far, it resolves that with a roll of dice and puts you in that random map/position. Then physics apply suddenly and 99% of the time you'll just die on the spot. That guy ended up in a place where you cannot die due to acceleration (inside a ship) so he survived that "eldritch transfer". Or that's how I interpret it haha. The only way to make sense of it is that the coordinate system, physics engine and server tracking are the works of Chaos, or maybe the Ancients trying to wake Chtulhu through the incantations of players stuck in geometry or spaghettified by a bug.
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