According to reports, a female traveler had a leg amputated at a Bangkok, Thailand airport when it was trapped in a moving walkway.
Terminal two at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport was where the 57-year-old Thai woman was waiting to take a flight to the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat in the south. Her left leg was pulled into the travelator’s end mechanism when she stumbled over her pink luggage.
After being informed at Karun that they couldn’t reconnect her leg, the lady reportedly asked to be transported to another hospital so doctors there could evaluate the situation.
The airport has launched an investigation to find out what went wrong.
There was a damaged wheel on a suitcase next to her, and the metal plates that usually line the edge of the belt at the end of the moving walkway were missing.
While engineers investigate for damage and undertake safety measures, the motorized walkway has been shut down.
The director of the airport claimed that Hitachi, a Japanese firm, built and installed the walkway in 1996 and that a request for funding to replace it with a modern model is on the table for 2025.
A report shows that a traveler’s shoe was torn apart in 2019 after it got trapped in the moving walkway at Terminal One at the airport. After the incident, the airport issued a statement claiming the malfunctioning walkway was fixed and reopened within the hour.
According to foreign media outlets, an airport administrator Karun Thanakuljeerapat expressed his sympathies on behalf of the Airport during a press conference. He stressed that they are going to take every precaution to make sure this never happens again.
Don Mueang Airport said on its social media accounts that it would pay for the woman’s medical expenses and provide additional compensation.
