Hong Kong couple has lucky escape after 4-ft x 1-ft hole opens at end of escalator
By Coconuts Hong Kong September 29, 2015 / 15:20 HKT
A Hong Kong couple had to jump to safety on Saturday after the metal plate collapsed and a four-foot by one-foot hole opened up at the bottom of the escalator they were travelling on.
The incident happened around 3pm at Aeon department store at the Panda Plaza in Tsuen Wan.
A witness told Apple Daily he saw the ground plate of the escalator collapse and open into a huge hole just as the woman was about to step onto it.
She reportedly screamed before grabbing her partner and jumping with him to solid ground. Both were uninjured but suitably shaken.
Apple Daily worryingly quoted a security guard who admitted it wasn’t the first time he has seen such an incident.
The Electrical and Mechanical Services Department shut down the escalator for repairs, saying initial investigations suggest the metal plate was crushed by damaged reels of the escalator.
This weekend’s near miss follows a number of other escalator malfunctions in Hong Kong in recent weeks.
It is also particularly reminiscent of a tragedy in mainland China in July in which the metal plate at the top of an escalator collapsed, causing a 30-year-old mother to fall into the mechanism and get crushed to death. She saved her young son by pushing him to safety just in time.
