SHANGHAI - A cleaner's leg had to be amputated after it got stuck in an escalator at a shopping mall on Saturday (Aug 1) night.

The 35-year-old man was cleaning the steps on the escalator from the basement two to basement one levels at the mall in Zhongshan Park when his left calf somehow got wedged between the top step and the floor panel.

Xinmin Evening News reported that the escalator, manufactured by the Shanghai Mistubishi Elevator Company, was halted immediately and the man rushed to hospital, but his leg was so badly damaged that doctors had no choice but to amputate it.

The incident happened after the mall had already closed.

Investigations are currently being conducted by the mall and the escalator maintenance company.

It is the third high-profile escalator-related tragedy to befall China in a week, further increasing the paranoia among users in the country.

Last Monday, 30-year-old Xiang Luijuan died when the loose floor panel beneath her collapsed at a Jingzhou department store in Hubei. She managed to save her son but was "swallowed" by the escalator's machinery.

This was followed by an incident at another mall in Guangxi three days later, when a one-year-old boy's left arm was mangled after getting stuck in the stairs of an escalator.