A woman lost her leg after it became stuck in a moving walkway at a Bangkok airport on Thursday.
Doctors were forced to remove the leg after being unable to free it from the travelator.
They remain hopeful that they can reattach the limb, however.
The passenger, 57, was set to board a flight at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport when she tripped over her suitcase and got her leg caught in the walkway at the hub’s Terminal 2.
The on-site medical team tried to free her but could not and eventually amputated her left leg from above the knee.
“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.”
She was rushed to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, where she was told her leg could not be reattached.
Doctors at a second hospital, Banrungrad International Hospital, said they think the leg can be reattached.
Woman loses leg after it gets trapped in airport’s moving walkway https://t.co/6WRlMr5MCA pic.twitter.com/KYFdD1Yfrp
— New York Post (@nypost) June 29, 2023
According to The Strait Times:
Mr. Karun added that the travelator in question, which has been operating since 1996, was manufactured by Hitachi, reported Thaiger.
He said the system has not been updated and its sensors are different from those found on newer travelators.
Mr. Karun said the airport already had plans to replace several old travelators by 2025 but may speed up the replacement process now.
The young woman was about to board a flight to Nakorn Sri Thammarat in southern Thailand when the accident took place on Thursday morning.
Footage from the security cameras at the airport shows her falling after being hit by a suitcase when she was on the travelator between departure gates four and five, reported The Nation.
Her leg got stuck on the edge of the travelator belt after she fell, and she was seen to be in agonizing pain while struggling to free her leg.
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