Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This toddler had a lucky escape from a 30-foot drop after being rescued at the last minute when he took an accidental ride on an escalator handrail.
CCTV images of the shopping centre in Xining County, which is in the city of Shaoyang in Central China’s Hunan Province, shows that the boy could have plunged off the side of the device to serious injury or even death at any moment – especially when he reached the top and was saved by the woman.
Video of the incident shows the tot, three, standing alone at the bottom of the ground-floor escalator leading to the first floor at just after 11am local time on 11th September.
He runs his hands along the moving handrail belt which catches on his clothes and lifts him off the ground when he leans against it.
The helpless boy, whose guardians are nowhere to be seen, ends up lying on top of the narrow handrail as it carries him over 30 feet up the side of the escalator.
Subsequent first-floor footage shows several adults looking in shock from the floor below when a shopkeeper notices the tot coming towards her.
She then stands next to the escalator exit and waits for him to get closer before lifting him to safety.
The boy was fortunately not injured during the scare, though it is unclear whether his guardians were spoken to by the police.
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.