Thailand’s second busiest airport was the kingdom’s main airport until 2006. Thursday’s freak accident followed another freak event with an escalator in 2019 when a visitor to the airport lost a rubber shoe to a malfunctioning moving stair. Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha has ordered an urgent report into exactly what happened and expressed his deep concern.
The Thai PM and top officials on Thursday reacted quickly after a nightmarish incident unfolded at the country’s second busiest airport when a 57-year-old woman had her leg cut off below the knee by a walkway escalator at 8.27 am in the morning as she made her way towards a domestic flight heading for Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan ocha has asked for an immediate report on a shocking incident on Thursday morning at Don Mueang International Airport in which a 57-year-old female passenger lost her left leg from the knee down while using a moving walkway at Terminal 2 in the airport.
The accident is reported to have occurred at 8.27 am and it appears that at the end of the concourse where the automatic walkaway came to an end, it malfunctioned.
The passenger’s left leg was sucked into a void which formed and cut it off at the knee.
Escalator shutdown itself but not in time to save the bottom half of the woman’s left leg below the knee creating a frantic scene at Don Mueang Airport
The moving walkway shut down automatically through its automatic system while frantic travellers pressed the emergency stop button but not in time to save the unfortunate woman’s leg.
It is understood to have occurred at the southern end of the walkway between Piers 4 and 5 in Terminal Two, a domestic flight hub. The passenger had been travelling to southern Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat province.
Airport management reacted quickly first attending to the injured passenger, ordering an engineering investigation and then forming a committee to investigate the accident as maintenance engineers examined the device which, it is reported, is checked on a daily basis including before being opened for business on Thursday.
The freak event is not the first such occurrence at Don Mueang Airport with a passenger’s rubber shoe being engorged by a conventional stairs escalator in 2019.
One of nineteen airport walkway machines installed by Japanese firm Hitachi and maintained on a daily basis by a qualified and locally certified company
The moving walkway escalator device is one of 19 installed at the airport built by Japanese firm Hitachi and maintained on a daily, monthly, quarterly and annual basis by a certified Thai company which works with the Japanese manufacturer.
Management at the airport confirmed on Thursday that all maintenance checks including one in the previous 24 hours had suggested that all the walkway escalators were in full working order and safe.
Prime Minister Prayut, on Thursday afternoon, expressed deep concern for the injured woman and her family and called on officials at the Ministry of Transport and other state agencies to respond and investigate the cause of the tragedy to ensure that all passengers, both domestic and foreign, are safe.
General Prayut pointed out that Don Mueang is also an international airport hub for Thailand’s vital foreign tourism industry. A spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office Ms Trisulee Traisanakul expressed his concern for the country’s image and reputation abroad.
‘Because Don Mueang Airport is an international airport, the service users are both Thai and foreigners. This will impact the image of the country’s tourism. The Prime Minister is concerned. He tasks the relevant agencies to speed up the investigation. He hopes that services return to return to normal and efforts are taken to restore confidence among users as soon as possible,’ declared Ms Traisulee.
Airport promises to pay all medical costs and to address compensation for the victim later as inspector gets to work examining the escalator at fault
At the same time, Mr Karun Thanakuljeerapat, the Director of Don Mueang Airport who had earlier been busy directing the emergency response, was quick to assure the victim’s family that all medical costs would be covered by the airport as well as compensation which would be addressed at a later stage.
The victim had been rushed initially to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital with reports also that Bumrungrad Hospital was on standby to treat other injured or shocked passengers and relatives of the victim.
The moving walkway was shut down as inspectors went to work examining what had caused the incident.
The investigation will take time to conclude but there are some indications that the wheels of the passenger’s bag may have been a factor that prevented the escalator from stopping in time to prevent serious injury.
Escalator installed in 1996 due to be replaced in 2025 as airport management examine what happened
It is reported that it slowed down when it caught the passenger’s leg but failed to stop completely with reports that the passenger’s leg was severed in the freak accident.
The airport management has also revealed that the CCTV footage of the area where the incident occurred was obscured because of the distance and the fact that it was at an angle.
Don Mueang Airport is Thailand’s second busiest airport and was the country’s main flight hub until September 2006 when Suvarnabhumi Airport was opened due to the large increase in foreign tourists visiting the country and the rise of air traffic including domestic flights.
The escalator in question is understood to have been installed in 1996 and was to have been replaced in early 2025.
The airport is one of the oldest in the world and was established in 1914 first serving as the headquarters of the Royal Thai Air Force.
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