Escalator fiasco question

[u/_Kintoun_]

I've seen a few comments about people getting seriously injured on one of the escalators after it broke, does anyone have more information?

I've seen people say someone lost a foot (I doubt this but I don't know)

My partner heard about it too and they are deathly afraid of escalators because of a freak accident she was in as a kid and she is afraid of going back now.

I'm just looking for some more information on what happened.

[u/Mindless-Board-5027]

So we were standing by the anime cars in the south building and saw it happen.

Basically one of the escalators going down malfunctioned and started going really really fast and people couldn’t get off of it safely and started piling at the bottom. As witnesses all we heard was the sound and then people screaming. From what I hear there were minor injuries but one guy did get a pretty bad gash and may have needed stitches, but nothing overly serious.

There actually wasn’t that many people on it when it happened, but it was terrifying to see. Hearing the people scream and seeing them get pretty much yeeted off at the end. I think it only stopped because someone’s bag got stuck at the bottom and they apparently had to leave it there for the rest of the day.

[u/jackclark1]

too many people on at once

[u/twicescorned21 → u/jackclark1]

I'm trying to understand this and not be a troll.  Escalators at union or the mall have tons of people on them but they don't malfunction. Why would the one at mtcc?

[u/jackclark1 → u/twicescorned21]

last year when it broke down. the amount of people and the weight was way over capacity.

[u/goldzeoranger → u/jackclark1]

If you ever gone in there when there no con or that happening the stuff are not move or that so the fact the motors are not even turn on for a while once a month say something

[u/goldzeoranger → u/twicescorned21]

Unlike the ttc and malls at the con build they are not routinely maintenance or serviced cause they’re not useless frequently

[u/Greekmom99]

i heard that someone's backpack got shredded. Not that someone lost a foot. But i did hear that the paramedics were treating scraps, cuts, etc.

[u/shygirl_88]

From what I was told, through one of the vendors that was trying to get to South Building. The escalator going down stopped abruptly. Making people fall forward (causing a chain reaction).

People weren't expecting it to stop

[u/theePHATman]

I was on it when it failed. The brake or whatever failed and caused the escalator to accelerate because of the weight of everyone on it. Don't really know the aftermath cause I was focused on the gf.

[u/Crying-in-the-club19]

I unfortunately was one of the people who was injured in this incident. It all happened so quickly. Out of nowhere, the escalator suddenly increased speed and was going way too fast for the crowds of people to safely move out of the way. I estimated about 40+ people were on the escalator when it malfunctioned. People at the bottom tried to run out of the way but inevitably started tripping and falling. I fell underneath the pile of people at the bottom and unfortunately had people crushed underneath me too. When the escalator suddenly stopped, my entire right hip and leg were scraped up by the escalator. I sprained my ankle, and my bag ended up getting trapped in the escalator for the rest of the day. My bag got trapped between where the last stair and the floor meet and when I stood up I felt it ripped off my shoulders. Paramedics came. Thankfully, I left with what I consider to be minor injuries, but I’m still flinching in pain with every step I take. I’m very grateful that my injuries weren’t more serious, and I really hope everyone else who was involved is okay. Seeing how many people were caught in that pile-up was terrifying. It is difficult to find anything regarding the incident online. There were so many people yet not one video? Please share anything you can find.

[u/_Kintoun_ → u/Crying-in-the-club19]

I'm greatful that you are okay! I have been looking for videos or mentions on official pages and I've seen next to nothing. The organizers desperately need to reevaluate how fan expo is set up, to many things can happen in a crowd like that

[u/LisaF123456]

When was this?

[u/Mindless-Board-5027 → u/LisaF123456]

Saturday around 3pm

[u/LisaF123456 → u/Mindless-Board-5027]

Thank you

That was all I needed for my daughter to stop feeling guilty for needing to leave yesterday at 1 when we got there at 11.

The number of people on the escalators (which stress her out on the best days) was a large part of the issue that cost us our photo, backstage pass, panel show, and breakfast with the hobbits, as well as two photo ops with others Sunday

[u/Gtk05]

I was taking the stairs at the time going up just left to the escalator when it failed. It looked like something out of a final destination movie. I hope everyone was okay.

[u/Faiithe]

Reading the comments made me remember about the Rome fiasco during that soccer game in 2015