Dozens injured on Skytrain escalator in Bangkok

Dozens injured on Skytrain escalator in Bangkok

An escalator at Surasak Skytrain station is closed after an accident on Saturday evening which injured nearly 30 commuters.
An escalator at Surasak Skytrain station is closed after an accident on Saturday evening which injured nearly 30 commuters.

Nearly 30 people were slightly injured on an escalator at the Surasak Skytrain station in Bangkok's Bang Rak district on Saturday evening.

According to a statement issued by skytrain operator Bangkok Transit System (BTS), the incident occurred at about 6.38pm when a large number of commuters were scrambling up an escalator at the Surasak station on Pramuan road after attending a concert celebrating the 170th anniversary of Bangkok Christian College.

The incident happened - as rain was fallling - when some people at the top of the moving escalator tripped and fell . They tumbled back down the escalator,  knocking other commuters down in a domino effect. Twenty-eight people, most of them women, were reported to have sustained minor injuries.

Rescue workers of the Ruam Katanyu Foundation reported that they rushed the injured to hospitals for treatment - three women to Lerd Sin Hospital, two women to Police General Hospital, eight women to Chulalongkorn Hospital, two (a man and a women) to Saint Louis Hospital, three women to Taksin Hospital, two women to Charoen Krung Pracharak Hospital, two women to Nakornthon Hospital, four women to Theptarin Hospital, one boy to Somdech Phra Pinklao Hospital and one (sex not reported) to Bangkok Christian Hospital.

The escalator was closed for examination after the incident.

BTS said in its statement that the company would take care of the injured. It denied an earlier report that the incident took place after the escalator malfunctioned.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt was reported to have gone to the station for an inspection.

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