Hong Kong commuters suffered a fright yesterday after the escalator they were travelling on at Quarry Bay MTR station ground to a halt and started to break up.
The escalator, which forms part of the transit between the Tseung Kwan O Line and the Island Line, started to disintegrate in the front few steps at around 9:20am yesterday morning, forcing commuters to jump to safety, reports RTHK.
Luckily no-one was hurt, but the incident understandably caused some panic following several recent Hong Kong escalator malfunctions, and of course the shocking case in Jingzhou in July that saw a mother swallowed up and crushed to death by an escalator after throwing her toddler to safety.
Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation is investigating yesterday’s incident but insists the Quarry Bay escalator was checked just a few days before.
It is thought a screw somehow slid between the steps and and triggered the emergency stop mechanism.
At least we know that’s working, we suppose.
