Editor’s note: The video below contains images some viewers may find disturbing. View with caution.

A woman in a Jingzhou City department store in China was killed by an escalator seconds after she threw her son to safety.

The horrid images depict a floor panel that appears to come undone as the woman and her son were ascending the escalator. The woman threw her son to two women standing at the top of the escalator then was violently pulled into the shaft. We can see half of her body is caught in the escalator then suddenly, the woman is forcefully sucked in.

Chinese media is reporting that it was 30-year old Xiang Liujuan’s violent death at Jingzhou Shashi Anliang department store on Sunday after saving her three-year-old son. Imagine the terror experienced by the little boy as he sees his mom disappear into the floor panel of the escalator.

Local reporting stated that it took emergency responders almost four hours to retrieve the body of the woman. The Los Angeles Times reported that the escalator was not fully functional as pieces were known to be missing at the time of the collapse.

Upon observing at the video, it makes you wonder what were the two women doing to the top of the escalator? It isn’t clear whether the workers were aware of the faulty escalators, but their positioning at the top is baffling.

Local residents were clearly outraged at the act and are demanding answers from the department store. This video should alert you to the fact that caution should always be exercised when using escalators. It does not hurt to take a stroll up the stairs once in a while.

Our heart goes out to this mother and her family.

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