A woman may need her leg amputated after getting trapped in a travelator in a busy Chinese supermarket.

The woman’s husband, who has been identified only as Mr Lu, said she was in intensive care, had undergone two operations, needed a skin graft and was at risk of infection and amputation after the horrifying accident.

It occurred in a supermarket in Shanghai last Thursday, when the woman’s lower body fell through the faulty moving walkway, which had a missing floor plate.

She was trapped for half an hour before being rescued by firefighters.

No further details about the woman’s name or age were available.

Firefighters managed to get the woman out, and she was taken to hospital. Photo: X

The deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration for Market Supervision (SMAMS), Su Dongjun, has told China’s told the CCTV network that all teams involved in the travelator’s operation – including including the maintenance and installation units – were under investigation.

Su said initial findings showed the incident was caused by the travelator’s pedal-fixing ring moving out of place. That led the pedal to fall off and then the failure of the travelator’s automatic stop mechanism.

The frightening incident follows an announcement by the Shanghai government this week that a study of the city’s escalators and escalators found that of more than 4000 inspected, more than 100 had technical problems.

In June last year, a 57-year-old woman had her leg amputated after getting stuck in a travelator at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport. According to reports at the time, she tripped on the walkway and her leg got stuck while she was on her way to board a flight.

-with agencies