Here's a chilling sight that literally could’ve happened to anyone ... a man narrowly avoided being crushed to death when a rogue elevator suddenly shot upward the moment he stepped out!

Check out this wild CCTV footage from Gujarat Housing Board residential complex in Valsad, India on Tuesday -- Vatsalbhai Panchal was seen stepping out of the elevator as the doors opened ... but in the blink of an eye it smoothly surged upward without warning, nearly shearing the man in half.

The movement was so sudden it sent him crashing to the ground below. Somehow, he narrowly avoided getting pinned between the rising elevator platform and the ceiling of the floor he arrived on -- a split-second difference that almost certainly would’ve been fatal.

Panchal reportedly suffered internal injuries in the terrifying ordeal.

Property management says the elevator company has since been contacted to carry out repairs ... adding there had been no major complaints about the elevator before the accident.

Mind the gap!!!