AOT said it was alerted at 8:40 a.m. of a female passenger’s foot stuck in an escalator in terminal 2. The assigned medical team had to cut the traveler’s leg off from above the knee, the Associated Press reported. The woman was later taken to two hospitals for treatment, including an attempt to reattach her leg.
In a news conference, Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said the woman’s suitcase wheels were also found under the walkway belt, and that the walkways are inspected on a daily basis. He added that authorities will take care of medical expenses and compensation for the traveler.
Following the accident, the airport’s moving walkways were inspected and temporarily disabled. AOT says its engineering team will conduct further inspection of the walkways. Officials said they’d set up a committee to investigate the incident, promising that if the accident occurred due to negligence, strict penalties would be taken.
Bangkok-based author Joe Cummings, who wrote the first Lonely Planet guidebook for Thailand, said he’s never seen anything like this before in the country.
“There’s that recorded warning about taking care when the walkway comes to an end,” Cummings said in a text message. “I always thought, why would that be necessary?”
Mike Stewart, general manager for Intrepid Travel in Thailand, who’s lived in the country for twenty years, said the accident has been all over local TV and print news throughout the day.
“There’s an image floating around where she’s kind of sat down on the escalator and her leg is obviously down underneath,” Stewart said. “It’s pretty disturbing when you see anything like that.”
Stewart said people are resurfacing a 2019 story of a man whose shoe was shredded in a Don Mueang moving walkway, who noted the infrastructure’s “teeth” appeared to be damaged. Some people have noticed a similar issue in photos of the recent accident.
Don Mueang is the smaller of the capital city’s two major airports, and was opened in 1914. It’s the main operating base for budget regional airlines Nok Air, Thai AirAsia and Thai Lion Air, and a hub for domestic travel. Stewart has traveled through it extensively, and though it is an old airport, “but it’s actually in relatively good condition,” he said. “I’ve never really had any concerns.”
Stewart doesn’t believe the accident should worry travelers visiting Thailand.
“I think that the authorities have actually acted fairly quickly and really well in response to what’s happened,” he said. “But I suppose with any kind of mechanical device, there’s always the risk of something.”
Still, “it’s the first time that I can think of where somebody is being pretty seriously injured,” Stewart added.
Natalie Compton
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