A cleaner at a mall in China's financial hub Shanghai had his leg amputated as it got stuck in an escalator, less than a week after a woman was killed in a similar tragedy, sparking concerns over the safety of users.
The lower left leg of the cleaner was amputated after the escalator collapsed during the weekend. It was the third such accident in a week, sparking concerns over the safety of over 2.4 million escalators currently being used in China. Industry insiders said it's dangerous to clean the escalator while in operation and should be banned.
Last Monday, 30-year-old woman died when the an escalator collapsed at a store in Hubei province. She managed to save her son but was "swallowed" by the escalator's machinery. This was followed by an incident at another mall in Guangdong province three days later, when a one-year-old boy's left arm was mangled after getting stuck in the stairs of an escalator.
There were 49 escalator accidents in 2014, killing 37 people, an official of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (GAQSIQ) quoted by state-run Xinhua news agency as saying. The inspection and maintenance of China's 2.4 million escalators are mostly done by the manufacturers.
The GAQSIQ's latest report said over 1,10,000 of them have potential safety issues, with nearly 79,000 escalators repaired and over 5,000 no longer in use. However, more than 26,000 escalators have not yet been repaired, the report said.
The central government has ordered all provincial governments, including that of Shanghai, to inspect and make sure that escalators in every mall operate properly before August 10.
