Twenty-four people were injured yesterday morning when an escalator suddenly jerked to a halt and reversed at a metro station in downtown Shenzhen.
The accident happened at about 8.50am at the Guomao station in Lo Wu district and involved a three-storey escalator moving upwards. The Shenzhen Metro Operating Company said the injuries could have been more serious if people had not fallen on top of one another. All the injured - including a pregnant woman - were treated at two local hospitals, with two seriously injured enough to require surgery.
Authorities sent a team to investigate the cause of the accident. The operating company instructed security guards to monitor all escalators at metro stations.
'I was on the middle of the escalator at the time,' the pregnant woman said. 'I heard a sudden, loud sound and then the escalator jolted quickly, like a roller coaster.
'The escalator stopped about five or six seconds later. I was so scared. I held the handrail tightly. Luckily, my baby was fine and my knee was only a little bruised.'
According to a male witness, more than 70 people were on the escalator when it suddenly reversed.
'The up escalator was packed with people because it was rush hour,' he said.