An 80-year-old woman in Japan died after falling and having her neck trapped under a handrail at the bottom of an escalator at a supermarket in Tokyo.
The incident occurred at 10:20am last Wednesday (Jun. 12), Japanese News outlets Kyodo News, and Asashi Shimbun reported.
The elderly woman was taking the escalator down from the first floor to the first basement floor at the Higashi-Fushimi outlet of supermarket chain OK, in western Tokyo.
She was using a wheeled walker.
Security footage from the supermarket showed the woman falling after attempting to lift her walker as she was reaching the bottom of the escalator.
Her neck then became trapped between the escalator handrail and the floor.
She was transported to a hospital unconscious but was later declared dead.
No issues found during latest inspection
The supermarket chain OK said it would cooperate with the police investigation and offered its condolences for the tragic death.
The outlet in where the accident occurred just opened in March this year.
According to the supermarket chain, the escalator was installed before the store opened to the public.
There were no issues found on the escalator during the latest inspection conducted on May 27.
Latest in a series of incidents involving escalators
This is the latest in a series of incidents involving escalators in Japan.
In March this year, an elderly man in his 70s died from suffocation after his suit jacket was caught in an escalator at a train station in Ibaraki Prefecture.
He collapsed and was transported to the hospital conscious, but was later pronounced dead at the hospital, Japan Times reported.
There are a total of 54 escalator-related accidents from 2010 to May 2023, with some involving serious injury or death.
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