Tokyo, Dec 29 (IANS) A five-year-old boy died after his right arm was caught in a travelator at a ski resort in Japan’s northern prefecture of Hokkaido, local authorities said.
The accident occurred at the Asarigawa Onsen Ski Resort in Otaru on Sunday morning (local time), when the boy became trapped in a moving walkway connecting the parking area to the ski slope. His mother called emergency services to report the incident, reports Xinhua, quoting Kyodo News Agency.
The boy, a resident of Sapporo, was rescued but was unconscious when taken to the hospital, where his death was later confirmed, according to local police and firefighters.
Resort officials told Kyodo News that the walkway’s emergency stop function failed to activate automatically when the child became trapped, prompting his mother to press the stop button.
The emergency function, designed to stop the travelator automatically if a foreign object is caught, had worked properly during a routine inspection earlier that day, officials said.
Police and other authorities are examining the exact cause of the accident and whether safety measures at the site were adequate.
Earlier on December 25, several people were injured after a fire broke out at an apartment building in Niigata City in central Japan, local media reported.
The fire occurred at around 6 p.m. local time in a 10-story apartment building in Chuo Ward, Niigata City, public broadcaster NHK reported.
Firefighters were dispatched to the scene and were still working to extinguish the blaze, the report said.
Local authorities said the incident resulted in multiple injuries, though further details were not immediately available.
The apartment building is located in a busy downtown area of Niigata City, surrounded by restaurants and other residential buildings.
–IANS
int/sd/
