Officials in central China's Hubei Province have halted the use of escalators similar to the one involved in a fatal accident on Sunday.
They have urged rigorous checks of all escalators made by Suzhou Shenlong Elevator Co Ltd following the tragedy at the Anliang department store in Jingzhou.
Xiang Liujuan, 30, was dragged into the escalator's machinery after falling through a loose panel. As she fell, she managed to push her 2-year-old son to safety.
Chen Guanxin, the city's work safety chief, said store staff had discovered that the panel was loose five minutes before the accident, but hadn't stopped the escalator for repairs.
Xiang was pulled into the machinery in a matter of seconds. A store employee managed to briefly catch her hand but couldn't pull her free.
Firefighters spent four hours cutting the escalator open to retrieve her body.
The escalators will be back in service after they are declared safe, the Hubei Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau said yesterday.
In 2011, a 4-year-old boy died after he got stuck in a Shenlong escalator in a supermarket in central China's Hunan Province.
