Woman’s shocking escalator death sparks calls for answers in China

World Today

Woman's shocking escalator death sparks calls for answers in China

A woman in Jingzhou city, Hubei Province, died on Sunday after falling through the flooring at the top of an escalator in a mall. It took the rescuers over four hours to find her body, and people across the social media sphere have been demanding answers about how her death could have heppened.

Surveillance camera footage from inside the mall, which she was visiting with her child, shows the woman struggling to escape after the panel on the floor collapsed. She is seen lifting her three-year-old child to safety, but is then unable to save herself.

Woman dies in escalator accident inside mall in China

Photo uploaded by Weibo user

The escalator continued to run after the deadly accident, and wasn’t stopped until the victim’s family requested the mall officials to do so, according to the victim’s sister-in-law @kkcake on her Weibo account.

According to an insider who spoke to the Wuhan Evening News, the mall’s staff had forgotten to screw down the panel after examining the escalator.

Online, many people said that judging by the behavior of the two employees standing by the escalator in the footage, the mall authorities appeared to be aware of the safety hazards. However, no one chose to warn the woman from taking the escalator.

Experts are also expressing doubts over the functioning of the escalator, given that the collapsing panel did not trigger an automatic brake system, which is required to be built within escalators.

The incident has led to angry reactions online, with people demanding a thorough investigation and calling for greater awareness on the safe use of escalators.

Photo uploaded by Weibo user

Photo uploaded by Weibo user

“There are emergency red buttons on every escalator, and people, especially employees of places with an escalator, should be taught well this common sense,” wrote Weibo user @milichiyiy

“But I see that different kinds of escalators have that red button placed at different positions. I wonder how we are going to find it in [an] emergency,” wrote @Sicengxiaodunan.

Despite the outrage online, there has been no official response from the mall authorities. The local government has said that the case is under investigation.

Woman dies in escalator accident inside mall in China