An airport's 'death trap' travelators were closed today after a woman's leg was sliced off - as her devastated son recalled the horror of seeing medics 'carry her foot out in a box'.
The passenger, 57, was travelling on a domestic flight from the Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, to Nakhon Si Thammarat province, when she became tangled in a pink suitcase on the device at around 8.30am.
Sources said the force of her fall caused her leg to plunge through the end of the walkway. She screamed in horror as her foot became stuck in the metal gap while the machinery churned through her muscle, tendons and bones.
Onlookers fumbled to turn off the emergency switch as the machine continued tearing through her flesh - spewing blood onto the metal tracks.
Paramedics amputated her leg on-site at the airport in order to free her from the travelator before she was carried out on a stretcher - with her foot in a foam box loaded into the ambulance.
Surgeons at the city's Bumrungrad International Hospital have reattached the limb but said she was unlikely to ever be able to recover the use of her left leg. Her family is now consulting doctors before deciding how to proceed with surgery.
Writing online today, the injured woman's son Kittirat slammed the airport for allegedly refusing to hand over CCTV of the accident. He said the incident had been 'heart-wrenching' for the family, who were worried for his mother's mental state.
He said: "I felt like a child especially when I first met my mother after the incident. The officers were holding a foam box containing her leg as they were getting out of the ambulance. It was separate from my mother sitting on the wheelchair. It's a feeling I can't really explain.
"My mother's morale is at a worrisome level. We had the opportunity to talk to her a little before and after the surgery as she was still staying in a clean room. She showed strength in both her facial expressions and tone, but we knew deep down in her heart that she was broken because she suddenly lost her leg.
"What I have to admit that my family's biggest concern at this time is my mother's state of mind and my mother's long-term condition. We know that we can't get my mother's legs back on track, or even get her life back on track. The family has asked the doctor to consider arranging a psychologist team to help treat my mother [and] process what's happening.
"My mother cried, not because of the pain, but because she couldn't imagine life with one leg. Therefore, we avoid talking about the incident at Don Mueang Airport with her as much as possible and leave it to the airport stakeholders to investigate the cause. The family hopes the probe will be transparent and fair.
"The family is still praying for my mum's surgery. We hope there are no signs of infection, and that it would be her last operation."
Staff at the Don Mueang International Airport - which has a separate military terminal on the opposite side which is used by the country's pampered King - have closed all of 20 their automatic walkways.
The other airports around the country are also checking their devices amid fears of further accidents.
Footage from shortly after the accident taken by a fellow flier shows her still using machines at the airport, while a tent covered the broken device where the accident happened.
Speaking at a press conference, Karan Tanakuljirapat, director of the Don Mueang Airport, has ordered the travelators to be closed as engineers investigate the cause of the accident.
Karan said the airport's walkways had been installed by Japanese company Hitachi Co in 1996 and were maintained by its local subsidiary. He claimed the walkways were maintained regularly, and they were scheduled to be replaced with newer models in 2025.
In a statement, the Don Mueang Airport said: "The director of Don Mueang Airport and management has visited the patient to follow up on the treatment and received information from the medical team at Bhumibol Hospital that she is currently in the process of receiving treatment from the medical team.
"Don Mueang Airport is deeply saddened by the incident and ready to fully accept the responsibility as well as take care of the medical expenses and compensation."
Don Mueang International Airport (DMK) serving Bangkok opened in 1914 but was replaced as the country's main airport in 2014 by the new Suvarnabhumi International Airport (BKK) on the outskirts of the city.
State-owned Airports of Thailand (AOT) owns the facility and the company is reportedly 'the most-valuable airport operator in the world' due to the country's popularity as a tourism destination and its rapidly growing domestic economy.
However, walking around the airport's arrivals and departure areas, the building appears to be stuck in a 1970s time warp, with little reinvestment, renovation, or upgrades - despite receiving vast sums each year from fees charged to airlines and tourism receipts.
A similar incident happened in 2019 when a passenger's rubber Crocs were sucked into a travelator at the same airport. The victim said that if he did not take off his shoe in time, his foot would have been sliced off.
