Child dies in travelator accident at Japan's Hokkaido ski resort

Alsharq Tribune-AFP 

A five-year-old boy died after his right arm was caught in a travelator at a ski resort in Japan's northern prefecture of Hokkaido on Sunday, local authorities said.

The accident occurred at the Asarigawa Onsen Ski Resort in Otaru on Sunday morning, when the boy became trapped in a moving walkway connecting the parking area to the ski slope. His mother called emergency services to report the incident.

The boy, a resident of Sapporo, was rescued but was unconscious when taken to hospital, where his death was later confirmed, according to local police and firefighters.

Resort officials told Kyodo News that the walkway's emergency stop function failed to activate automatically when the child became trapped, prompting his mother to press the stop button.

The emergency function, designed to stop the travelator automatically if a foreign object is caught, had worked properly during a routine inspection earlier that day, officials said.

Police and other authorities are examining the exact cause of the accident and whether safety measures at the site were adequate.