Eleven people were sent to hospital yesterday when an escalator at the Guangzhou East Railway Station malfunctioned, causing a pile-up of 20 people, reports Southern Metropolis Guangzhou.

The escalator in the No. 6 underpass to the train station unexpectedly accelerated during a early morning rush of passengers at around 6am on August 26.

Some people were able to quickly run away from the escalator to try and make their trains, but those who couldn’t escape suffered some painful injuries.  

Eleven victims were sent to hospital and all are said to be in stable condition. The majority of the victims had skin abrasions and lacerations, and were discharged shortly afterwards.

Emergency Room Director Zeng Yuhui said that two patients had more serious injuries and were required to be admitted overnight. Both are children: one has broken bones while the other requires stitches for deep cuts.

Mr Huang was at the scene:

We were on the escalator when it suddenly sped up. I hadn’t even reacted when I got crushed inside a mass of people. One of the children that fell down had her face cut by a luggage case, and my niece suffered serious injuries when she had her ear torn away.

The escalator involved in incident has been shut down. The railway station says it will look into what happened.

Photos: Southern Metropolis Guangzhou, Money 163