The incident occurred at the Asari resort, located in Otaru, Japan (pictured). Photo: lastmayday // Unsplash
A five-year-old boy died after becoming trapped in a moving walkway in a Japanese ski resort. The tragedy occurred Sunday at Asarigawa Onsen Ski Resort in Otaru, a city on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
As The Guardian reports, The accident occurred on a 100-foot-long moving walkway connecting the resort’s parking lot to the ski slope. Hinata Goto was trying to get off the walkway when he fell and his right arm became trapped in the winding mechanism. According to the Asahi Shimbun, the walkway was only two feet wide and had no handrails. Ski resort officials told the Kyodo news agency that the boy’s mother pressed the emergency stop button, but the mechanism appeared to have failed despite passing a routine inspection earlier that day.
It wasn’t until 40 minutes after Hinata’s mother called emergency services that firefighters were able to free the boy from the mechanism. He was then taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A resort representative apologized for the accident. Meanwhile, police have launched an investigation into its cause.
