Woman loses leg after it gets trapped in moving walkway.
A woman has lost her leg after getting it trapped in an airport moving walkway Thursday morning.
The unnamed tourist was due to travel on a domestic flight from Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport in Thailand when she tripped over a pink suitcase on the device at around 8.30am.
As she fell over, her leg was wedged into the conveyor belt, with the mechanism ripping through muscle, tendon, and bone.
A medical team at the airport decided to cut her left leg off above the knee, according to the airport’s officials.
“On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident,” Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said during a news conference.
“I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again.”
He said the airport will be fully responsible for the woman’s medical costs and will be open for negotiation on other compensation.
Describing the ‘heart-wrenching’ incident, her son Kittirat said: “The officers were holding a foam box containing her leg as they were getting out of the ambulance.
“It was separate from my mother sitting on the wheelchair. It’s a feeling I can’t really explain.”
The medical team at the hospital informed the woman that they could not reattach her leg, but the woman requested to be transferred to another hospital to assess the possibility.
Images shared online showed the lower part of the woman’s leg trapped beneath the belt at the end of the walkway as she was assisted by airport staff.
A suitcase lying near her was missing two wheels, and the yellow comb-like plates were seen broken off from where they typically cover the edge of the belt where the moving walkway ends.
Karun said the suitcase wheels were found underneath the belt, but it was unclear how it might relate to the accident. He said walkways at the airport were checked daily, with an additional monthly inspection. He said the walkway had been closed and a team of engineers was inspecting it to determine the cause of the incident.
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