Hong Kong shoppers injured after escalator reverses direction

An escalator in a Hong Kong shopping centre suddenly reversed direction at the weekend, injuring up to 18 shoppers.

In the incident, captured on CCTV, people piled up at the bottom of the escalator and screams echoed in the atrium of the Langham Place complex in one of the city’s busiest districts.

A chain and an emergency brake seem to have malfunctioned on the 150ft escalator, despite it passing an inspection last week.

One witness told the South China Morning Post: “I heard people screaming. The escalator was going down but the speed accelerated. People started to panic and some fell.”

Two technicians, who reportedly work for Otis Elevator Company, have been arrested for “perverting the course of justice”, after being accused of tampering with the escalator after the incident, local media reported.