(Ecns.cn)--Twelve-year-old Wang Yuwen (alias) sat helplessly in a wheelchair, unable to wake up from the nightmare.
"We intended to go home tomorrow after visiting the Beijing Zoo," cried Wang's mother Tuesday at the Peking University People's Hospital, where the injured victims of an escalator accident were receiving treatment.
A teenage boy was killed and 30 others were injured, three seriously, on Tuesday morning when an ascending subway escalator at Exit A of Beijing Zoo Station on Line 4 suddenly reversed direction, according to Yang Ling, an employee of Beijing MTR Corporation, the line's operator.
Witnesses described a strange grinding noise followed by a tumult in which riders at the top of the escalator fell to the bottom in less than two seconds. The riders were thrown down the metal stairs and into a heap at the bottom.
Survivors said those who were in the middle section of the escalator immediately prior to the accident suffered the worst injuries.
Her daughter could remember nothing after the accident, according to Wang's mother. "She was pushed down to the bottom of the stairs. I am afraid she was hurt seriously.”
The OTIS escalator
The failed escalator was one of ten manufactured by OTIS currently used by the capital's newest line. All OTIS escalators were halted immediately after the accident, according to the subway operator.
According to public information, the OTIS Elevator Company is one of the world's leading manufacturers, installers and maintainers of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. OTIS China has set up nine joint ventures in Tianjin, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Suzhou, Dalian and Chengdu, and is responsible for four elevator brands, including OTIS, XIZI, SIGMA and Jiangnan Express.
Yang said OTIS won the subway contracts through public bidding.
When the accident occurred the escalator was still within its guarantee period, according to Yang. All ten OTIS escalators used by Line 4 are checked by OTIS technicians every 15 days, she added. The malfunctioning escalator was last checked on June 22.
It was not the first time for an OTIS elevator to cause tragedy. On Dec 14, 2010, 24 passengers were injured when another ascending OTIS escalator reversed direction at Shenzhen subway's Guomao Station in Guangdong Province. The accident was caused by the loosening and eventual fracture of the fixed support bolts in the escalator's driver mechanism, according to an NBD report.
Yang said an investigation was underway into the cause of the breakdown at Beijing Zoo Station. The government has also ordered inspections of escalators at all other stations.
