Shanghai man’s lower leg amputated after getting trapped in escalator

CCTV footage shows the moment a cleaner’s foot was caught in an escalator at a shopping mall in Shanghai on Saturday night.

The 35-year-old was trapped while cleaning the moving stairs at the Cloud Nine shopping mall in Shanghai.

Mr Zhang can be seen cleaning the equipment when the metal panels give way trapping his lower left leg.

Despite the device immediately stopping the man, known only as Zhang, suffered severe injuries and doctors were left with no choice but to amputate part of his limb.

Authorities from the Market Monitoring Bureau of Shanghai’s Changning district told CCTV that they are now conducting an investigation into the incident.

It was the second such tragedy in a week.

Last Monday, 30-year-old Xiang Luijuan died when the loose floor panel beneath her collapsed at a Jingzhou department store in Hubei.

According to the website china.org.cn – a government portal run by the State Council Information Office – figures from the China Elevator Association show that more than half of all accidents involving elevators and escalators are connected to maintenance and fix neglect.

Two days before that in the southwestern province of Guangxi, a toddler’s left hand and arm were caught in a gap of an escalator after he tripped and fell at the bottom, firefighters told local media.

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.