Thai woman loses part of her leg after tripping along Bangkok airport moving walkaway as she was getting ready to board her flight. Freak accident or airport culpability?
Whose to blame? A Thai woman lost her leg when it became stuck in a moving walkway at a Bangkok airport in Thailand on Thursday in what Thai press called a freak accident. Doctors are hopeful that the mangled limb can be reattached.
The passenger, 57, whose name has not been released, was set to board a flight at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport when she tripped over her suitcase, leading to her left leg getting caught in the walkway at the hub’s Terminal 2.
The on-site medical team struggled to free her before eventually amputating her leg from above the knee.
A photograph from moments after the horrific incident shows the woman leaning against a first responder with her missing limb concealed by blue jeans.
UPDATE: Karan Tanakuljirapat, director of Don Mueang Airport, said at a press conference Thurs at 3pm the moving walkway which crushed a passenger’s leg has been in service since 1996 and was due to be replaced in 2025. #Thailand #สนามบินดอนเมือง pic.twitter.com/5YY0V2jmqk
— Khaosod English (@KhaosodEnglish) June 29, 2023
The un-named Thai woman was first rushed to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, where she was told her leg could not be reattached.
The woman is now receiving a second opinion at Banrungrad International Hospital, where doctors have said the leg can be reattached, The Straits Times reported.
‘On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident,’ Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said during a news conference.
‘I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again.’
(1/2) UPDATE: The accident involving a passenger at Don Mueang Airport losing her lower left leg to a moving walkway Thurs wasn’t the first. Back in 2019, a passenger narrowly escaped having his foot crushed after a partially broken skirt of a moving walkway sucked his slipper. pic.twitter.com/MezqIZweYd
— Khaosod English (@KhaosodEnglish) June 29, 2023
Does victim have legitimate lawsuit?
Thanakuljeerapat added that the airport will cover the passenger’s medical costs and is open to discussing additional compensation.
The moving walkway involved in the accident was manufactured in 1996 by the Japanese company Hitachi, the airport said.
He said the system has not been updated and its sensors are different from those found on newer travelators.
Mr Karun said the airport already had plans to replace several old travelators by 2025, but may speed up the replacement process now.
There were suitcase wheels found under the walkway after the incident, though it is unclear how this may have contributed to the freak accident. Authorities continue to investigate.
