Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Cambodian toddler's foot amputated by escalator

Tue, 07 Aug 2007
DPA

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian toddler was in critical condition after his left foot was severed by an escalator at a local market, his family said Tuesday. Chhor Mengroik, 3, was being minded by his 10-year-old brother while his mother worked at Olympic Market when his foot became lodged in a crack at the side of the escalator and was sliced off at the ankle by the metal grate at the top, his aunt Theing Vy said.

"Nobody is really sure how it happened. They only realized something was wrong when the child began to scream," Vy said in an interview.

She said rescuers took two and a half hours to recover the severed foot from under the escalator.

Officials said the boy was rushed to hospital in neighbouring Vietnam where medical care is more advanced in an effort to re-attach the limb.

It was unclear if surgery had been successful after the accident, which happened Sunday, but the toddler was in a critical yet stable condition, according to family members.

Market officials said they had closed the escalator pending an investigation into the accident.

Escalators are not common in Cambodia and are often old and in bad repair. At least one modern shopping mall in the capital has employed full-time staff to assist customers in using its escalators.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Country run by Ah Hun SEn and CPP!

Bring all thr garbage to Cambodia!

Anonymous said...

Land of over used equipments, thank to the greatness of CPP!

Anonymous said...

New kind of land mine in Phnom Penh, install by Viet?

Anonymous said...

I am not a friend of Vietnam. But just to be fair, why you guys blame everything on Vietnam/Vietcong? You can blame them on lack of democrazy in Cambodia, on human rights abuses but not on things like escalators too!

It's about time that khmer people should take responsibility. Can't keep on blaming everything on everyone else.