TWO accidents involving escalators have been in the news in China recently, where at least one has died after being caught in a gap in the escalator’s platform.
The producer of the escalator, Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd., has already apologized to the family of the victim who was killed due to a faulty escalator produced by the company, according to Chinese state media.
A woman surnamed Xia was killed by a broken escalator at AGZ Mall in central China’s Hubei Province last week. She held up her three-year-old son before winding up in the gap between the elevator and ground. The accident drew nationwide attention after the surveillance video footage went viral online.
“Please allow me, on behalf of the Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd, to express deep condolences to Ms Xia, who was killed in the accident on July 26 in Jingzhou, and her families,” said Yuan Qiang, general manager of Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd. at a press briefing.
The move came after a technical report was released earlier Wednesday, claiming Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd. to be one of the main responsible entities.
The report accused Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd. of flawed design that caused the accident, but Zhang Jianzhong, the company’s chief engineer said all the escalators were designed and produced in accordance with national regularities.
Sixty percent of the parts on the escalator in question was produced by Suzhou Seloon Elevator Co., Ltd.
“So far, before the accident took place, we had 4,648 such escalators in operation. This is the first time we received report of such an incident,” said Zhang.
The managers also promised to cooperate in the investigation and own up their share of responsibilities.
Meawhile, Chinese state television recently showed surveillance camera footage of the moment a janitor’s foot was caught in an escalator at a shopping mall in Shanghai on late Saturday (August 1) night.
The footage, which was acquired from the mall by state broadcaster CCTV and released on Monday (August 3), shows two people jumping over the top platform of the escalator just before a janitor, surnamed Zhang, walked over to mop its steps.
Within seconds of stepping over the escalator’s top platform, Zhang slipped and his left foot was caught between a gap in the escalator’s steps.
It took local firefighters around 20 minutes to free Zhang from the escalator’s grasp, but doctors at a local hospital were unable to save his foot, and were forced to amputate it, CCTV said.
Zhang is still recovering at the local hospital, CCTV added.
Authorities from the Market Monitoring Bureau of Shanghai’s Changning district told CCTV that they are now conducting an investigation into the incident.
The escalator, which was manufactured in 2004, has been closed off from the public since Saturday’s incident, CCTV said. (with reports from China Central Television)