Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment toddler whose toes are stuck underneath an escalator handrail remains totally calm while being rescued as he watches a series on his mum’s phone.
The one-year-old from the city of Yiwu in East China’s Zhejiang Province had been visiting a shopping centre with his mum when the accident happened on 7th October.
According to the fire service, the mum pushed the tot’s pram towards the escalator but accidentally collided with the moving rubber handrail.
The belt pulled the pushchair in and trapped its wheels and the boy’s left foot underneath the handrail.
The mum and other shopping centre staff were unable to free the trapped pushchair and the boy’s toes, leaving them no choice but to call the fire service for help.
Firefighter Zhang Kai and 13 of his colleagues were dispatched to the shopping complex, where they found the escalator having already been stopped.
But with the pushchair firmly lodged underneath the rubber handrail, they had no choice but to cut the pram’s metal frame apart and remove one of its wheels in order to free the boy.
During the rescue, however, the tot made no noises and did not cry, as his quick-thinking mum had distracted him from the otherwise distressing situation by shoving her mobile phone in his face.
Rescue footage shows the boy glued to his mum’s phone screen, which was playing a Chinese series, while a fireman removes the pushchair’s right wheel and frees his toes.
Zhang said: “Whenever we came across children with trapped feet, they’d always be crying, but this boy was very quiet.
“After his foot was freed, he looked up at me for a moment and then carried on watching the series.”
The tot was not seriously harmed and did not require any hospital treatment, reports said.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
