On Saturday (13 April), shoppers at Tampines 1 mall got a shock of their lives when they saw the bottom steps of a moving escalator collapsed.
During the 9pm incident, four people stepped onto the escalator that was descending from the third to the second floor of the mall, Shin Min Daily News reported.
A tenant whose shop was nearby the escalator told the Chinese-language newspaper that they heard a loud bang before the bottom steps broke apart. Thankfully, the four individuals who just went on the escalator reacted quickly and pressed the emergency button.
According to The Straits Times (ST), no one was hurt in the incident and the area has been cordoned off.
Looking at the photo provided to Shin Min, it shows that the bottom steps of the escalator were badly damaged, and some parts were scattered on its landing on the second floor.
As of Sunday evening, repair works were still going on, and both the police and the Singapore Civil Defence Force told ST that they did not attend to any accidents at that time and place.
On ST’s Facebook page, netizens call for a shutdown of the mall so that a full inspection can take place before more serious damages occur. They also want regular checks to happen as “this is Singapore, and we need to ensure things work like the clock”. Other online users added that this incident is indeed scary and they are afraid to take the escalator now, adding that all measures should be taken to avoid incidents as bad as the ones that happen in China to occur in Singapore.
A bunch of netizens also said that the quality of products and quality control (QC) are declining in Singapore. They also highlighted that these kind of incidents never used to happen in the country. Facebook user Mel Mel said funds for maintenance should be spent properly rather than being channeled into someone’s “own pocket”.
Others felt that it’s best to use the stairs rather than the escalator to avoid such accidents. They said that escalator of lifts should be kept just for the elderly or disabled.
Xue Ying opined that Singaporeans should also stop the habit of walking up or down the escalator as it causes “more impact to the machinery when there are movement from the people”, resulting to machine wearing out faster than usual.
