Accident at Skytrain Station not caused by escalator malfunction, but by overcrowding, according to BTS Skytrain’s statement

[webfact]

 

By Nop Meechukhun

 

Bangkok – BTS Skytrain released a statement regarding a reported malfunctioned escalator at BTS Surasak station on Saturday evening, August 20th, which injured nearly 30 people, stating that the accident was not caused by the malfunction but by overcrowding at the escalator.

Online footage that was shared widely on social media captures the moment when a large number of passengers were seen taking the escalator up to the Surasak Station to use the Skytrain service during heavy rain as of 6:38 PM. on Saturday, but some people at the top of the escalator seemed to lose their balance and caused others behind them to stumble and fall on top of one another.

 

About 28 people reportedly suffered minor injuries and wounds from the accident. 

 

Full story: https://thepattayanews.com/2022/08/21/accident-at-skytrain-station-not-caused-by-escalator-malfunction-but-by-overcrowding-according-to-bts-skytrains-statement/

 

-- © Copyright The Pattaya News 2022-08-22

 

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[swm59nj]

If the escalator was very crowded.  And the people at the top didn’t get off quickly enough or just stopped on top. That could have possibly caused the  people behind them to fall and start a chain reaction.  
A couple of year’s ago I was going up an escalator in Terminal 21 Asoke.  There were two people in front of me possibly tourists..  When they reached the top they got off their step.  But they immediately just stayed there talking to each other blocking the escalator. I yelled get out of the way.  Luckily they moved or everyone still coming up could have fell backwards. 

[VocalNeal]

Happens at shopping malls in Indonesia. "Lets stand here at the top of the escalator and plan the rest of our day"

[Crossy]

11 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Happens at shopping malls in Indonesia. "Lets stand here at the top of the escalator and plan the rest of our day"

 

Same in India. I found a good firm shove most effective!

[SooKee]

26 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Same in India. I found a good firm shove most effective!

Happens here too, followed by standing in the doorways of hotels, restaurants or whatever, some people are just dumb as <deleted>????

 

[kingstonkid]

51 minutes ago, SooKee said:

Happens here too, followed by standing in the doorways of hotels, restaurants or whatever, some people are just dumb as <deleted>????

 

Playing old style hockey prepared me for this. Elbows and shoulders with a purpose..

 

Simple rule should be the same as it was in TO. Turn off the escalators during major events in areas.

 

An escalator is nothing more than a conveyor belt if the end is not cleared products get damaged

[kennw]

4 minutes ago, kingstonkid said:

Playing old style hockey prepared me for this. Elbows and shoulders with a purpose..

 

Simple rule should be the same as it was in TO. Turn off the escalators during major events in areas.

 

An escalator is nothing more than a conveyor belt if the end is not cleared products get damaged

Stop at the top, look at the mobile phone to see where to go next................

[bamnutsak]

Interesting that they released a "statement", but chose not to release any in-station CCTV video?

 

Some video showed the mezzanine level of this station jammed as people wanted to avoid a torrential rainstorm.

 

Seems like this was an EPIC failure on the part of the BTS. In previous years they have managed capacity on the mezz and platform levels.

 

Hopefully they "learned" something from this "incident"? Maybe someone should be monitoring the escalators via video, and stop it when there are capcity issues?

 

There is a 15 sec video which shows incident.

 

https://www.facebook.com/KittichaiInThailand/videos/1491002491341984/

 

The red stop button is hard to get to (on purpose).

 

 

 

 

 

[Retfed50]

2 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Happens at shopping malls in Indonesia. "Lets stand here at the top of the escalator and plan the rest of our day"

Happens all the time here. When I get on an escalator here I always leave about a 2 meter space between me and the person in front. In the west, escalators have an emergency stop button, but since that involves "safety", you don't see too many of those here.

[ikke1959]

Always something to blame

[hotchilli]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

but some people at the top of the escalator seemed to lose their balance and caused others behind them to stumble and fall on top of one another.

More like a bottle neck at the top because people don't vacate the area quickly.

[greenmonkey]

yeah its happened to me before... people in front decide to stand at the top of the exculator so I had to shout and shove them out of the way... brain dead some of these people. I am guessing that in this instance the people coming up and seeing their paths blocked were too 'polite' or stupid to shove them out of the way.

[Phuket Stan]

4 hours ago, swm59nj said:

If the escalator was very crowded.  And the people at the top didn’t get off quickly enough or just stopped on top. That could have possibly caused the  people behind them to fall and start a chain reaction.  
A couple of year’s ago I was going up an escalator in Terminal 21 Asoke.  There were two people in front of me possibly tourists..  When they reached the top they got off their step.  But they immediately just stayed there talking to each other blocking the escalator. I yelled get out of the way.  Luckily they moved or everyone still coming up could have fell backwards. 

Same happens when many Thai people get to the top and then check their phones Grrrrr

 

[dddave]

I've always thought the escalator at Siam BTS station from the train platform to the mezzanine level was an accident waiting to happen.  Every time a train stops and off-loads, the escalator gets packed; sometimes 2 trains off-load at the same time and people at the top push to get on.

I always wait and take the lift.

[jacko45k]

4 hours ago, swm59nj said:

If the escalator was very crowded.  And the people at the top didn’t get off quickly enough or just stopped on top. That could have possibly caused the  people behind them to fall and start a chain reaction.  

I have noticed a lot of people here are nervous of escalators, and take a few seconds stepping on them, and are unbalanced stepping off. Also hang about 'for a think' at the top.....dangerous at rush hour.....

[2009]

I've always been fascinated by this phenomenon in Asia.

 

I still can't figure out if they genuinely have no spacial awareness or if they just don't give a F.....

 

I sense it's the latter.

 

 

.

[2009]

On 8/22/2022 at 11:37 AM, hotchilli said:

More like a bottle neck at the top because people don't vacate the area quickly.

Terrified of the rain.

[hotchilli]

1 hour ago, 2009 said:

Terrified of the rain.

More like they don't know how to use their legs..????