Story By: John Feng, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This video seen over three million times shows a pensioner whose left leg was snapped and severed from the knee down by a faulty escalator.
The unnamed woman in her 60s is said to have ridden the escalator despite being warned that the device had just been repaired and still undergoing tests.
The freak accident happened at the Jinjing shopping centre in Harbin’s Acheng District in north-eastern China’s Heilongjiang Province on the afternoon of 20th July.
Pictures Credit: AsiaWire
Distressing video taken by witnesses shows both the pensioner’s lower limbs inside the escalator, with firefighters and mechanics working to free her.
The woman’s family members said she and her younger sister were visiting the shopping complex when they got onto the escalator.
The metal steps beneath the pensioner’s feet then buckled, causing her to fall behind the skirting and into the churning mechanism below.
Her relatives said she tried to climb out but had nothing to step on.
The pensioner’s left leg was reportedly broken and severed from below the knee, with her right foot also badly injured by the turning escalator gears.
She is said to be in stable condition after undergoing emergency surgery at a local hospital, but it is unclear whether medics will attempt to reattach her severed limb.
Her family members say the shopping centre has paid for her medical costs, but they plan to demand further compensation for her injury.
However, staff and witnesses at the shopping complex have revealed that the woman allegedly ignored warnings and even removed barriers in order to ride the escalator.
An unnamed shopkeeper told local media: “The escalator was being repaired and there were barriers all around it. She removed the barriers and stepped onto the escalator.
“The escalator had just been repaired and was still being tested.”
Another woman said: “They were still testing the escalator to see if it was working properly. She just had to get on it.
“The step broke as soon as she stepped on it.”
“She wouldn’t be stopped. She refused to listen,” a third woman said.
The accident is still being investigated.
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