Woman may need amputation after getting trapped on moving travelator in China

Incident at supermarket in Shanhai leaves woman seriously injured and in ICU after two surgeries

A woman in China was seriously injured and may require an amputation after she got stuck in a moving travelator at a supermarket in Shanghai.

The woman fell feet-first into the travelator after it malfunctioned on Thursday and she remained trapped for half an hour until engineers could get her free.

A video of the incident shows the travelator had a missing plate and that the woman, seen wearing a black hoodie, fell inside as soon as she stepped on board. A man can then be seen rushing down to stop the moving travelator.

The woman is now in intensive care and has already undergone two operations including a skin graft. Her husband, identified only by his surname Lu, said she was at a risk of infection and may need amputation, reported Shanghai Daily, describing the extent of her injuries as “scary”.

The Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Supervision (SMAMS) said an investigation has been launched into the incident.

Su Dongjun, deputy director of SMAMS, told the broadcaster CCTV that the incident was caused by a malfunction of the system that automatically fixes plates, or pedals, in place. The plate then fell off, and the travelator’s automatic stop mechanism also failed.

He said that all teams involved in the functioning of the travelator, including maintenance units and the workers who installed it, were being questioned.

The supermarket was temporarily closed following the incident.

The Shanghai government on Monday said more than 100 technical issues were found during an unrelated month-long investigation by SMAMS into its escalators and travelators.

It had inspected more than 4,000 escalators and moving walkways.

Thursday’s incident was not the first example of escalators in China going horribly wrong.

In 2015, a woman died after she full completely inside an escalator at the upscale AZG Mall in central China. Security camera footage of the incident showed the mother throwing her son to safety before she fell inside a gap in the escalator’s steps.

In 2019 in London an engineer was crushed to death after becoming trapped in a moving escalator at Waterloo Station. The man was conducting repair work when the incident happened.