A woman was killed after she fell into an escalator, while saving her son, in a shopping center in Jingzhou, China, Sunday.
Surveillance footage from the incident shows a metal panel at the top of the escalator giving way, causing the woman and her toddler to fall inside.
The woman, later identified as Xiang Liujuan, 30, was able to push her child to safety as she fell. Unfortunately, she was swallowed by the escalator even though two women tried to help, according to the BBC.
A four-hour rescue operation was conducted at the AZG Mall, but firefighters had little choice but to declare the woman dead when they finally cut the escalator open and found her body Sunday afternoon, state media reported.
Local paper Wuhan Evening News reported that maintenance work had been carried out on the escalator and workers had allegedly forgotten to screw the access cover into place, according to Time.
There has been no comment from the shopping center, but authorities have stated that the case is under investigation.
The victim's family has gone online to voice their anger about the incident and to call for a proper investigation, according to CNN.
"An ordinary Sunday shopping trip ended up in such a sudden tragedy, almost ruining an entire family," said one woman, who identified herself as the victim's sister-in-law and posted some of the earliest pictures from the scene on the popular micro-blogging site Weibo.
"The shopping mall is still open and the killer escalators are still running," she added. "Shoppers have no idea about the tragedy upstairs and no one knows if such disasters will strike again."
If you wish to see the video of the woman falling, click HERE.
