Mother is swallowed by escalator

[Lunar_Wolf]

Security camera footage has emerged of a mother saving her young son's life seconds before losing her own on an escalator in China.

The 30-second video begins innocently enough: As the escalator in a shopping mall almost reaches the top, a woman in a white shirt and black skirt lifts up her young son to get ready to step off.

But as she does, a metal panel collapses under her feet. She falls into the gap.

Chinese state media on Monday named the woman as 31-year-old Xiang Liujuan.

Struggling with only her upper body above the metal structure, Xiang is seen pushing her son forward. The boy is quickly pulled to safety by a mall employee standing near the top of the escalator.

Two other mall employees try to drag Xiang out, but within a few seconds, she disappears through the hole into the escalator shaft.

Despite a four-hour rescue operation at the upscale AZG Mall in central China, firefighters declared Xiang dead when they finally cut the escalator open and found her body Sunday afternoon, state media reported.

More info here Warning - CNN provides a video of the panel collapsing, but not the woman being sucked all the way in.

 

[titansupes]

Holy ****. Poor people.

 

[Breogan]

Ok, ...that was horrible, so sad.
Didn't know that was even possible.
She saved her child, had she her hands free she might of had time to grab for leverage, but she saved him first, she is a hero.

 

[Spider-Aziz]

I want to know what exactly made the escalator part collapse.

 

[Duke]

I want to know what exactly made the escalator part collapse.

Probably lack of proper maintenance.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

From the reports, maintenance work had been done a couple of days before her death, so the blame is being shifted onto them for poor service.

Also, paramedics did not arrive until three hours after they were called.

 

[Slushy]

What a horrible way to die. RIP.


Say a prayer before you walk out your front door. You don't know when your time's up.

 

[Warhammer]

From the reports, maintenance work had been done a couple of days before her death, so the blame is being shifted onto them for poor service.

Also, paramedics did not arrive until three hours after they were called.

In the United States, heads would roll for that s***. The media would be relentless. And rightfully so.

 

[Lunar_Wolf]

This bit of news I didn't see

Staff at the Chinese shopping mall where a mother died after being trapped in an escalator knew that the footplate the woman fell through was loose but failed to shut the machine down, it has emerged.

Staff reportedly tried to tell Xiang the footplate was loose when she was halfway up the escalator, according to the South China Morning Post.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

I saw this the other day, freaking brutal. Prayers for the family

 

[DeadPresident]

That's what happens in a country where human life comes a distant 23rd to everything else.

 

[Breogan]

This bit of news I didn't see

Staff reportedly tried to tell Xiang the footplate was loose when she was halfway up the escalator, according to the South China Morning Post.

"tried to tell Xiang....half way up", I hope they are not trying to blame her?
If they yelled anything, who knows what they conveyed other than dangerous! after she was already half way up, , If she heard people yelling, she probably thought, OMG! better get off the quickest way possible, which is by then already up top! How would she even imagine the floor would open up to swallow her.

 

[warhorse78]

Wow. This is like, Final Destination stuff here.

 

[redhawk23]

That's what happens in a country where human life comes a distant 23rd to everything else.

You say this as if nothing ever collapses in the States.

 

[Victarion]

That poor child.

 

[TX85]

A horrible freak accident, Damn shame she lost her life like that and this may haunt the poor kid for life!

 

[Anita18]

There are reports that the husband can be seen at the bottom of the escalator, pacing around in a panic. (I haven't watched the video, don't want to..) Apparently they were warned the board was loose and she went up it anyway? It's hard to tell what exactly happened. She didn't deserve to die over it, at any rate.

Even so, if employees knew the board was loose and she was halfway up, they should have stopped the damn thing. If they knew the board was loose, they should have cordoned it off completely. A few weeks ago, were doing maintenance on the escalators at the train station here - it was VERY CLEARLY out of service. There wasn't weaksauce caution tape, but big waist-high hard plastic barriers. You'd have to be trying to kill yourself to get past that.

But apparently the employees didn't even know where the emergency stop button was? Unbelieveable. Heads would roll in the US for this, absolutely.

I work at a Building and Safety dept. (I wantonly abuse the safety mechanisms of our elevators, because I figure, the most inspected elevators have to be ours!) If something goes wrong, the machine is supposed to stop. If the board was loose or fell through, the escalator is supposed to stop. It didn't.

That poor family.

 

[KevanG]

That's way ****ed up,

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I have an slight but unreasonable fear of escalators.

Probably shouldn't have read this.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

But yeah the woman is a hero for pushing her son away.

There's an instinct to grab anything or anyone for survival but her motherly instinct was stronger.

Can people sue major businesses in China?

 

[KevanG]

It's China. I honestly have no idea what is legal, 'legal' and illegal anymore.

 

[The Endless]

What a horrifying way to die. I've seen the machinery under there on site before... ugh.

 

[Urich Leeds]

Wow. This is like, Final Destination stuff here.

It's eerily similar to what happened in the fourth film.

 

[Micromind]

Escalators can be dangerous if there's a loose footplate, what I find unsettling is the fact that even employees working there were unaware of the emergency Stop switch ?

Many accidents have happened in the past as nobody knew about the emergency Stop switch.

 

[Marvolo]

Escalators can be dangerous if there's a loose footplate, what I find unsettling is the fact that even employees working there were unaware of the emergency Stop switch ?

Many accidents have happened in the past as nobody knew about the emergency Stop switch.

You are assuming that the escalator had an emergency stop switch. China may not require them or it may not have even been functioning.

Hell Im willing to bet that they wouldnt be on US escalators if it wasnt required by law. Ive ridden escalators without them.