EJ Insight » Hong KongToday, 3:29 PM
A man narrowly escaped injury when an escalator in the Causeway Bay MTR station jammed and broke apart under his feet.
The passenger, surnamed Chung, said he was lucky to walk away unscathed, Apple Daily reports.
MTR officials said a loose screw might have lodged in the teeth of the moving steel plate, causing it to buckle and break apart.
The incident, the second in an MTR station in three days, happened Wednesday morning as Chung was traveling from the platform to the concourse.
Chung said he jumped forward when the escalator jammed at the top of the steps, sending debris flying from the broken foot plate.
“If it was an older passenger or someone on a smartphone, the person might have sustained serious injury,” Chung said.
Five to 10 people were behind him on the escalator. All were helped to safety by MTR staff, he said.
An MTR spokesperson said a contractor found a loose screw that might have caused the problem.
The escalator last passed inspection on Dec. 15.
On Monday, an escalator broke down in the Kowloon Tong station.
Earlier this month, similar incidents hit the Kowloon Bay station one day apart. No one was hurt.
In July, a mother in central China’s Hubei province was shallowed alive by a broken shopping mall escalator moments after she handed her toddler son to horrified onlookers.
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