'I might have already become an amputee': Commuter's footwear chewed by escalator at Woodlands MRT station

A woman suffered a traumatising ordeal when her shoe was caught in an escalator at Woodlands MRT Station.

Stomp contributor Z was with her husband when the incident occurred on an escalator along the linkway between the Thomson-East Coast Line and Causeway Point shopping mall on Aug 5, at around 3.30pm.

She recounted: "My shoe and toes curled in to the gap of the escalator. Fortunately, I jumped out at the last second. If not, I might have already become an amputee or gotten killed.

"The escalator stopped automatically and immediately after the rubber of my shoe got stuck.

"After the incident, a staff member walked out from a room (I'm not sure what room) and I informed him about the situation. We asked him to fix the escalator or do crowd control. He said he couldn't fix it but started asking other passengers to come down the escalator.

"My husband was still worried so he went to the nearest passenger service counter to make a report."

Z also emailed SMRT about the incident afterwards.

She told Stomp that she was not hurt, but now has a "phobia".

She added: "This could have been a great injury for me or anyone else."

In response to a Stomp query, Shahrin Bin Abdol Salam, managing director of SMRT's Thomson-East Coast Line, said station staff were alerted to the incident on an up-riding escalator near exits 1, 2 and 3 on Aug 5, at around 3.30pm.

Shahrin told Stomp on Thursday (Aug 24): "The escalator had tripped as the safety mechanism detected the presence of a foreign object caught between the escalator steps. This object turned out to be a footwear.

"After checks were conducted, the escalator was put back into service that same evening.

"For their own safety, commuters are reminded to stand within the yellow lines of all escalator steps as well as keep their feet and footwear away from moving sides and edges."

ALSO READ: 'He cried out suddenly': Boy, 6, undergoes surgery after toe gets stuck in MRT station escalator

This article was first published in Stomp. Permission required for reproduction.