[VIDEO] Man's Foot Amputated After Getting Stuck In Shanghai Mall Escalator
It took firefighters around 20 minutes to free him.
By Sadho Ram — 04 Aug 2015, 03:32 PM
Escalator related incidents are quickly escalating in China
First it was the horrific death of a 31-year-old mother who was killed after falling through an escalator's floorplate at a shopping mall in Jingzhou, central China. Later, a one-year-old boy's left arm was mangled by an escalator in Guangxi.
Now, on Saturday, 1 August, a cleaner has had to have his foot amputated after his leg became trapped in an escalator in a shopping mall in Shanghai.
CCTV footage shows the man, Zhang Shisheng, placing a cloth near the top of the escalator and stepping on it to clean the escalator equipment before one of the escalator's metal floor panels give way, trapping his left lower leg.
According to BBC news report, firefighters managed to free the 35-year-old cleaner after the incident and was taken to a local hospital. However, doctors were unable to save his foot.
"The doctor said in order to prevent (the) situation from getting worse, they amputated his left calf," a family member of the victim told Xinhua.
While an investigation into the accident is still underway, media reports say the victim violated operation regulations by not shutting the escalator down first before stepping on it to cleaning it
According to the South China Morning Post, the shopping mall said Zhang had "improperly" stepped on his mop.
"The brush of the mop was trapped inside the gap in the stairs, which caused cracks in the comb plate," the mall said in a statement.
"Since the incident, the shopping mall has stopped its escalator cleaning service, and held an emergency meeting to heighten the safety procedures for cleaning," Lin Yun, the deputy general manager of Cloud Nine mall told CNN.
"Before the escalator cleaning services can be resumed, the shopping mall has requested a list of the cleaning supervisors and workers that have undergone training as well as to provide the training report to the shopping mall."
Meanwhile, in the wake of several related incidents that plagued mainland China, online photos of a damaged escalator at a popular shopping mall in Hong Kong has sparked safety concerns
Facebook user Franko Lun's post last Sunday (Aug 2) morning, which showed images of broken pieces scattered at the bottom of a escalator in Times Square mall in Causeway Bay, was shared widely and picked up by Hong Kong media.
The South China Morning Post (SCMP), quoting a Times Square spokesman, said the incident occurred at around 10am when the escalator stopped. It was believed to have been caused by the "normal activation of the escalator's safety protection mechanism".
No one was injured and the escalator resumed service more than four hours later. The mall also assured shoppers that all its escalators undergo regular maintenance.