The video will start in 8 Cancel

Get the stories that matter to you sent straight to your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

LOCAL Chinese television showed surveillance camera footage of the moment a janitor's foot was caught in an escalator at a shopping mall in Shanghai late Saturday night.

The footage, which was acquired from the mall by Shanghai television broadcaster Dragon TV, shows two people jumping over the top platform of the escalator just before a janitor, surnamed Zhang, walked over to mop its steps.

Within seconds of stepping over the escalator's top platform, Zhang slipped and his left foot was caught between a gap in the escalator's steps.

It took local firefighters around 20 minutes to free Zhang from the escalator's grasp, eventually carrying him out on a stretcher, Dragon TV said.

(Image: Reuters)

Doctors at a local hospital were unable to save Zhang's foot, and were forced to amputate it, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Zhang is still recovering at the local hospital, CCTV added.

Authorities from the Market Monitoring Bureau of Shanghai's Changning district told CCTV that they are now conducting an investigation into the incident.

The escalator, which was manufactured in 2004, has been closed off from the public since Saturday's incident, CCTV said.