Escalator closure at Waterway Point due to lodged shoe

A small section of steps (right flight) were damaged at the base of an escalator situated between Starbucks and UNIQLO at Waterway Point on Oct 19, 2016. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
A small section of steps were damaged at the base of an escalator situated between Starbucks and UNIQLO at Waterway Point on Oct 19, 2016. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
A small section of steps (right flight) were damaged at the base of an escalator situated between Starbucks and UNIQLO at Waterway Point on Oct 19, 2016. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

SINGAPORE - A shoe caught between two steps had caused an escalator at Waterway Point to stop working on Wednesday (Oct 19), said a spokesman from the mall on Wednesday night.

At about 1.15pm that day, shop tenants reported hearing a loud bang at an escalator that connected the first and second storeys in the mall's west wing.

"I thought someone had fallen down," said Mr Oh Yeong Kuan, 37, who works at one of the shops in the mall. "I rushed to take a look and saw a shoe stuck in a gap in the middle of the escalator."

He added that he saw a woman in her late 30s holding a boy around eight years old who was missing a shoe after the incident.

"He wasn't crying but the woman looked shocked and very angry."

The mall said that the escalator had stopped operating shortly after the incident as an automated safety measure, after a shoe was lodged between the escalator steps.There were no reported injuries and the area had been cordoned off for safety.

A spokesman for the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said the agency had sent engineers to the site to conduct checks.

It has also issued a notice of maintenance to the escalator owners, and asked them to appoint an independent authorised examiner to inspect the escalator. The escalator will be allowed to resume operations only after recommended works are completed and the authorised examiner has inspected and certified that the escalator is safe for use.

Waterway Point is currently inspecting and carrying out maintenance works on the escalator.

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