Boy, 5, dies after arm gets trapped in travelator at Hokkaido ski resort

A five-year-old boy has died after getting trapped in an outdoor travelator at a ski resort in Otaru, Hokkaido, Japanese authorities said.

Arm trapped

The incident occurred at Asari Ski Resort in Hokkaido on the morning of Dec. 28, when the boy was riding a belt-conveyor travelator with his mother, reported The Asahi Shimbun.

According to local police and firefighters, he fell while attempting to get off the moving walkway, which connects the parking area to the ski slopes.

His right arm became caught in the winding mechanism at the top of the travelator, which does not have handrails.

Unable to be freed

Firefighters said they received an emergency call from the boy’s mother at around 10 am.

Staff at the resort were initially unable to free him, prompting emergency workers to dismantle part of the equipment, according to Kyodo News.

The boy was freed approximately 40 minutes later but was unconscious. He was then taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Officials at the ski resort said the travelator is around 30 metres long and about 60 centimetres wide, barely wide enough for one adult to stand. It was installed around six years ago.

The resort also said the travelator is equipped with a safety mechanism designed to automatically stop the belt if a foreign object becomes trapped.

However, sources told The Asahi Shimbun that the mechanism did not activate during the incident, and the travelator only stopped after the boy’s mother pressed an emergency stop button.

Resort officials said the emergency stop function had worked during a routine inspection earlier that day.

Concerns over design

Regular visitors to the resort said the travelator is commonly used because it allows skiers to move between the parking area and the slopes without climbing stairs.

One man in his 70s told Kyodo News that there were several points along the walkway where the slope changes and the belt shakes, adding that he had stumbled there before and had thought it was dangerous.

Police investigation ongoing

A representative of the ski resort apologised for the accident and said the facility would determine the cause and take steps to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

Hokkaido police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the boy’s death.

The resort remained open following the accident, though the travelator involved was shut down.

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