A woman had to have part of her leg amputated after it became trapped in a movable walkway at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport on Thursday, officials said.
The 57-year-old Thai woman was on her way to board a domestic flight to Nakhon Si Thammarat province at around 8:40 a.m. when the incident took place.
Authorities believe the victim, who was not named, fell on the moving walkway and the force of the fall exposed the walkway’s safety cover. The woman’s left leg was then drawn into the mechanism, the Bangkok Post reported, and a medical team had to amputate her leg above the left knee at the airport.
She was then immediately rushed to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital for further treatment.
“On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident,” airport director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said in a news conference. “I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again.”
The medical team at the hospital informed Karun that they could not reattach her leg, but the woman requested to be transferred to another hospital to assess the possibility, he said.
In a statement posted to its Facebook page, Don Mueang Airport promised to cover the woman’s medical costs and other compensation.
The victim’s son said his family is “shocked” by the accident, and he worries for his mother’s mental health.
“My mother’s morale is quite concerning,” her son wrote on Facebook, as per the BBC.
“We got to speak to her a bit before and after the operation…. Even though she showed her strength through facial expression and tone of voice, we knew that deep down she was broken because she suddenly lost a leg,” Kit Kittirattana added.
“Our family knows very well that we can neither make her leg work like before, nor can we bring back the same life she had lived.”
According to The Associated Press, images shared online of the incident showed the lower part of the woman’s leg trapped beneath the belt at the end of the walkway as she was assisted by airport staff. A suitcase lying near her was missing two wheels, and the yellow comb-like plates were seen broken off from where they typically cover the edge of the belt where the moving walkway ends.
The airport director said walkways at the airport are checked daily, with an additional monthly inspection. The walkway where the accident happened has since been closed and a team of engineers is inspecting it as part of the airport’s investigation.
The walkway had been in operation since 1996, local media reported.
— With files from The Associated Press
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