Elderly women hurt in escalator accident
Four elderly women were hurt when they fell off an escalator at Punggol Plaza on Tuesday morning.
According to The Straits Times, the women suffered deep cuts, fractures and bruises when the handrail of the escalator they were on stopped suddenly. The four women aged between 72 to 81 lost their balance and fell backwards.
They were just three steps from the top when two of them fell to the foot of the escalator while the other two landed on the escalator steps.
They sustained bruises and long scratches down their back caused by the escalator's jagged metal edges.
Kiong Mok Lan, 76, suffered the worst injuries with fractures in her left cheekbone, right hand and left leg. Her spectacles were also damaged and her left eye swollen and bruised.
Another woman, Liew Poh Chan, 72, suffered deep cuts on her shins and was bleeding profusely. It was reported that they were taken to Changi General Hospital by ambulance and later discharged.
One of the women, Hoh Peck Tau, 72, claimed that a mall management staff said that the incident happened because the women were giddy. But she told the same paper, "How is it possible that all four of us suffer from giddiness at the same time?"
Hoh's son-in-law tested the escalators twice after the incident and found the handrails to be faulty on both occasions.
A Punggol Plaza management staff told Yahoo! Singapore that the escalators were cordoned off and checks were conducted after the incident by their elevator servicing company, which showed that the escalators were not faulty as reported by the local media.
He added that he brought the elderly women to a clinic in the mall to be treated for their injuries.
When asked about more details of the incident, he declined to comment further.
