Most Popular
-
1
Actor Jung Woo-sung admits to being father of model Moon Ga-bi’s child
-
2
Wealthy parents ditch Korean passports to get kids into international school
-
3
Man convicted after binge eating to avoid military service
-
4
First snow to fall in Seoul on Wednesday
-
5
Final push to forge UN treaty on plastic pollution set to begin in Busan
-
6
Korea to hold own memorial for forced labor victims, boycotting Japan’s
-
7
Nvidia CEO signals Samsung’s imminent shipment of AI chips
-
8
Job creation lowest on record among under-30s
-
9
Industry experts predicts tough choices as NewJeans' ultimatum nears
-
10
NK troops disguised as 'indigenous' people in Far East for combat against Ukraine: report
중국의 한 백화점에서 발생한 에스컬레이터 사고에서 세 살배기 아들을 살리고 자신은 목숨을 잃은 어머니의 사연이 중국인들의 심금을 울리고 있다.
27일 관영 신화통신 등에 따르면 후베이(湖北)성 징저우(荊州)시의 한 백화점에서 26일 오전 10시께 7층 에스컬레이터 상층 끝 부분의 발판이 갑자기 '푹' 꺼지는 사고가 발생했다.
30대 여성이 세 살배기 아들을 안은 채 6층에서 7층으로 올라가 에스컬레이터에서 막 내리려는 순간이었다.
이 여성은 모성을 발휘해 본능적으로 아들을 밀쳐 올렸으나 자신은 움푹 팬 구멍 아래로 떨어지고 말았다.
아들은 백화점 점원 등에 의해 전혀 다치지 않고 구조됐지만, 이 여성은 에스컬레이터를 해체해 구조 작업을 펼쳤음에도 약 5시간 만에 숨진 채 발견됐다.
경찰은 백화점 측과 에스컬레이터 시공사 등을 상대로 정확한 사고 경위를 조사하고 있다.
사연이 알려지자 중국 누리꾼들은 "자신의 목숨을 아들의 목숨과 바꾼 위대한 모성", "아이는 구하고 자신은 구하지 못하다니 너무나 안타깝다"는 등의 반응을 보이며 가슴 아파했다.
일부 누리꾼들은 '날벼락'과도 같은 이번 사고에 대해 "무서워서 에스컬레이터를 타기가 두렵다", "엘리베이터나 에스컬레이터를 탈 때 안전에 주의해야 한다"는 등의 반응도 나타냈다.
중국 언론들은 중국에서 그동안에도 자주 에스컬레이터나 엘리베이터 사고로 인한 인명피해가 발생해 왔다면서 "사고의 60% 이상은 관리·보수가 제대로 되지 못하고 있기 때문"이라고 지적하기도 했다. (연합)
<관련 영문 기사>
China escalator swallows toddler’s mother
A woman was killed after she plunged through flooring over an escalator in a Chinese department store, reports said Monday, thrusting her toddler to safety as she fell to her death.
Xiang Liujuan, 30, was holding her son in front of her as they went up the stairway on Saturday, the Wuhan Evening News said.
Security camera footage of the incident posted online showed a panel in the floor giving way as Xiang stepped off the escalator. As she fell half-way through she pushed her son forward, and a nearby shop assistant dragged him to safety.
But the escalator continued rolling, and several seconds later Xiang is seen disappearing downwards into the mechanism, despite one of the staff briefly grabbing her hand.
It took firefighters more than four hours to cut open the machine and recover the woman, who showed “no signs of life”, the newspaper report said.
The footage shows employees standing at the top of the escalator as the mother and child approach.
Maintenance had just been carried out on the escalator at the Anliang department store in Jingzhou in the central province of Hubei, and workers forgot to screw the access cover back into place, the newspaper cited an unnamed source as saying.
The accident was one of the top topics on China’s Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday with more than 6.6 million views.
Most comments expressed fury at the shop management.
“Why didn’t the staffers stop customers at the entrance to the machine or just turn it off?” wrote one. “The department store is definitely responsible.”
Others were moved by the woman’s final actions.
“I was appalled when I saw her sink and at the same time felt the greatness of maternal love -- the mother wasted no time pushing the child out when it happened,” said one.
China is prone to safety accidents as regulations and standards are often flouted and enforcement is lax, sometimes due to corruption.
In 2012, a nine-year-old boy was killed after he got stuck in an escalator at a Beijing department store as horrified shoppers looked on.
In July 2011, a 13-year-old boy was killed and more than 20 others injured when an escalator in a Beijing underground station suddenly reversed direction during the rush hour. (AFP)
