China's Fear of Escalators Continues to Rise After Mall Cleaner Suffers Amputated Leg in Another Escalator-Related Incident

China very clearly has an escalator problem, as evidenced by the third escalator-related incident in a week.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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A cleaner at the Cloud Nine shopping mall in Shanghai was forced to have his leg amputated following another escalator incident in China, the third such incident in a week. The 35-year-old individual became trapped while cleaning the escalator, with local doctors eventually recommending the amputation of his left calf "in order to prevent the situation from getting worse."

Though public scrutiny has descended upon the seemingly distraught escalator industry in China in the wake of recent incidents — including the tragic death of a young mother who narrowly saved the life of her son before being swallowed by an escalator — the country's statistics don't necessarily point to an increase or other fluctuation in escalator-related accidents. According to CNN, there were 49 such incidents (and 37 resulting deaths) in 2014 — a relatively miniscule number when viewed within the context of the country's total population of 1.3 billion people.

Social media all across the globe has reacted to the media attention of these incidents as tastefully as you might expect, with varying attempts at reviving planking and improvising new GIF-ready techniques at avoiding that final step on an escalator ride — leading to a nationwide fear, though possibly tongue-in-cheek, of escalators and related mall-based public transportation methods.

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