Questions arise over whether key braking system on escalator was turned on during incident
Two technicians arrested after an escalator accident that left 18 shoppers injured are suspected to have tampered with one of its key braking systems during an official inspection last week to determine the cause of the incident, sources said. The auxiliary braking system should have been turned on at the time of the accident, but it was possible it was not, a government source said, which could have caused the incident. The pair, aged 22 and 52, from Otis Elevator Company (Hong Kong), are suspected of having turned on the system during the inspection by government engineers on Saturday night by touching parts at the escalator’s top landing platform that houses the motor assembly, according to another government source. Such acts could have intervened in the investigation into what happened at Langham Place in Mong Kok. The allegations prompted officials from the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to call the police, the source added. But a spokesman for the escalator’s contractor said on Sunday night that the arrest had taken the company by surprise, as the two mechanics had only been sent there to assist with the inspections on Saturday.
