Boy's head trapped in escalator accident

A NINE-YEAR-OLD boy was injured yesterday after his head became trapped in a gap between a moving escalator and wall at a local Carrefour supermarket.

Doctors at Shanghai Children's Hospital confirmed last night the boy, surnamed Shen, suffered bruises to his head and face and needs to be kept in hospital for observation for two to three days.

Witnesses said the boy was playing alone on the escalator leading to the supermarket's top-floor parking lot at 3:40pm when he got stuck in the gap between the escalator and wall in the store at Changzhong Road, Baoshan District.

The boy's head became jammed and he was dragged by the moving escalator for more than 2 meters before it was stopped, surveillance camera footage showed.

"Some of our officials thought the boy was playing on the escalator at first and did not realize there had been an accident," said Hu Gaofeng, a customer service representative.

Supermarket employees rushed to stop the escalator and pulled Shen free, Hu told Shanghai Daily.

"He was shivering all over when I reached him," said the boy's mother, surnamed Zhou.

"I had never seen my boy like this. His body seemed twisted and he was in great pain."

Zhou said she, Shen and his 14-year-old sister had been shopping at the supermarket before the accident.

"This should never have happened," Zhou told the reporter.

Zhou said she and her daughter were waiting for Shen on a shuttle bus while he went to the bathroom and had not realized there had been an accident until she saw people rushing and calling for help.

Source: Shanghai Daily

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