Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

Video Credit: AsiaWire

This footage shows the dramatic rescue of a young girl who nearly lost the fingers on her right hand – seen here – when they became stuck in the side skirting of a moving escalator.

CCTV images from the county of Dawu in Xiaogan City, which is in Central China’s Hubei Province, show the tot, three, and another child riding the escalator when she reaches down to pick something up.

As the steps reach the bottom and begin disappearing into the floor panel, the girl’s friend steps off, but the young victim suddenly finds herself unable to free her right hand.

Her digits become snagged in the side skirting, and adults can be seen running over as she struggles and begins to cry, the video from 31 August shows.

Fortunately, the escalator’s emergency stop button is pressed shortly after, shutting off the device before the girl’s digits can be lost to the moving parts.

With supermarket staff unable to free the child, members of the Dawu County fire service can be seen dismantling the escalator in a bid to free the child’s hand.

Tang Ming, vice fire captain, recalled: “The girl’s right hand became stuck in a small gap at the bottom of the escalator.

“Her fingers were very firmly stuck. Trying to remove them by force would’ve caused serious injuries.”

Tang said firefighters did their best to calm the child as rescuers prised apart the metal and made room for her fingers to be pulled out.

The operation took around 20 minutes.

Tang added: “We later learned that the girl had dropped her toy on the escalator and snagged her fingers in the gap while trying to pick it up.

“A supermarket staff member was fortunately able to stop the escalator in time.”

The girl was taken to hospital and is not thought to have sustained any serious injuries.

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