On the morning of May 24, Mr. Liu was on a routine shopping trip with his wife when his leg got stuck in an escalator at an A Best Supermarket in Shenzhen's Bao’an District.
According to witnesses, the step under his left foot cracked open with a loud gunshot-esque sound, causing Mr. Liu, who is in his 60s, to lose his balance. Nearby shoppers and supermarket staff immediately called for help and local firefighters responded quickly.
It took them roughly 40 minutes to free the elderly shopper and, during that time, Bao’an firefighter Liu Wei commented that Mr. Liu was in an understandably bad mood. Emergency responders used tools to winch the gap in the steps wider and to cut off surrounding bits of metal that had trapped the man.
“Because the old man’s leg had been stuck in the escalator for half an hour, he was feeling rather depressed,” said Liu. “We could only keep talking to the old man, using words to help steady his emotions.”
After being freed, Mr. Liu was immediately sent to Bao’an People’s Hospital for treatment, where doctors determined that his left leg had been fractured. They plan for him to undergo surgery today in order to treat the injury.
The escalator’s failure remains a mystery, not least because the escalator had just been checked for malfunctions earlier this month. Under normal circumstances it would not have been due for another inspection until November.
For now, however, the escalator is closed and off-limits to customers. A reporter who arrived on the scene after the incident noted that two steps had been completely removed from the escalator, and that some traces of blood still remained.
The reason for the escalator’s failure is currently under investigation.
[Image via sznews.com, Nanfang City Report]
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