An escalator at Tokyo's Big Sight convention center broke down under the weight of hundreds of visitors at Wonder Festival this Sunday morning, careening backwards and crushing riders in a pile at the bottom. Footage of the accident and response is (of course) already up on YouTube. (The left-hand side, which should be rising, is sliding backwards under the weight of the riders.) More than fifty people were involved in the accident, with ten taken to hospitals and one suffering from broken bones.
In spite of the huge numbers of people who visit WonderFest (as it's affectionately called) every winter and summer, injuries of any kind are exceedingly rare. This was a freak accident. Here's to hoping everyone involved makes a speedy recovery.
It's kind of hard to tell what happened in that video.
Posted by: llxwarbirdxll | August 03, 2008 at 05:33 PM
I know this is harsh, but...
they watch people piling up behind them, and still the guys at the top can't be arsed to walk up?
Tokyo used to be better at being crowded.
Posted by: nate | August 03, 2008 at 09:40 PM
My husband and I have vended at two WonderFestivals (Summer '06 and February '08). The line of attendees waiting to get in often stretches back nearly to the train station. When security sounds the buzzer to let people in, it's pure chaos. I'm surprised nothing like this has happened before (though, I don't think they split it between two floors in the past).
Posted by: Lisa | August 04, 2008 at 01:51 AM
I shudder to think of the carnage if I'd been in the middle of the escalator when it started going backwards.
Posted by: hillsy | August 05, 2008 at 02:39 AM
Imagine the carnage if the thing had collapsed instead of going backwards.
A few years back someone fell down into the elevator mechanisms when an badly maintained elevator partially collapsed in a warehouse in my country. Needless to say that the victim was rather dead afterwards (crushed between the elevator rollers, IIRC).
Posted by: thomas | August 05, 2008 at 03:34 AM
I saw the accident on NHK news last night. I was baffled at how much people were crammed in that escalator, I'm not surprised it happened.
They should just set up booths for limited edition figures on the 1st floor next time.
Posted by: Ike | August 05, 2008 at 09:23 AM
When the doors open, it's seriously like the running of the bulls in Pamplona. It's kind of a miracle something like this never happened before.
Posted by: MattAlt | August 05, 2008 at 12:05 PM
http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=Mw9ee4shbtM
Video of the "dealer dash" that opens every show, as exhibitors rush into the fray in an attempt to score limited-edition items before the crowds flood in.
Posted by: MattAlt | August 05, 2008 at 01:28 PM