Chinese woman crushed to death in escalator
BEIJING — The scene can only be described as horrific: On an otherwise unremarkable morning, a woman is riding up a shopping center escalator in central China with her son.
When she reaches the top and begins to disembark, she steps onto a metal footplate covering the machinery. The plate collapses, dropping the woman into the gears. She shoves her child into the arms of two mall employees and is crushed to death.
Security-camera video of the incident hit Chinese social media late Sunday, hours after it occurred, with local media identifying the woman as Xiang Liujuan, 30. In a rapidly urbanizing country still plagued by shoddy construction standards and poor building maintenance, the news spread like wildfire.
But instead of an outpouring of sympathy for Xiang or questions for the mall or government inspectors about why the escalator" which was known to be missing some parts "was still in operation, her family was initially met with a large measure of reproach, skepticism and blame from some official media outlets and Internet users.
“Pay Attention to This Life-Saving Button,” the People's Daily advised, explaining to readers where the emergency stop button is on escalators. Others, responding to a Web posting by Xiang's sister-in-law about the incident, questioned whether the family was publicizing the tragedy in an effort to extract financial compensation from the store, or had even “scripted” the event.
But as news of the Sunday morning incident in the city of Jingzhou, 130 miles west of Wuhan in Hubei province, spread, anger at the mall and safety inspectors mounted. “What brand was that escalator?” asked one commenter online. Another, describing the incident as heartbreaking, said the store must bear responsibility.
According to Xiang's sister-in-law, Xiang apparently was unaware of any problem with the escalator until she and her son had already stepped onto the moving staircase, which was still in motion and not blocked off in any way.
People questioned why the escalator was allowed to keep running or was not cordoned off. Two employees seen in the closed-circuit video circulated online stood at the top, apparently trying to talk with Xiang as she and her son rode up.
They were the workers who helped Xiang's son escape the gears as his mother was crushed. It was unclear whether the workers knew the footplate was insecure, though they are seen standing to the side of the metal panel near the handrail.
The Wuhan Evening News quoted an escalator expert as saying that the conveyors typically have safety mechanisms that should automatically stop the machinery if the metal plate is opened.
The local safety inspection bureau told the Shanghai-based publication The Paper that there was no record of the escalator being under repair.
