It is every traveler’s worst nightmare to face serious injury in another country all for the joy of travel. A Thai woman is now facing a life she never imagined after losing her leg when it became stuck in a moving walkway at a Bangkok airport. However, doctors are hopeful that the mangled limb can be reattached.
A woman's leg had to be amputated in a Thai airport after it was trapped by a moving walkway. https://t.co/qADPklIYro
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 29, 2023
A 57-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, was set to board a flight at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport. On her way to her terminal, she tripped over her suitcase, and her leg was caught in the moving walkway at the hub’s Terminal 2.
The responding medical team struggled to free her from the grasp of the machine. They eventually opted to amputate her left leg from above the knee.
Unfortunately for the traveler, photographs capture the entire incident. One image taken moments after the horrific incident shows the woman leaning against a first responder with her missing limb stuck in the walkway.
The woman was rushed to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital, where she was told by doctors that her leg could not be reattached.
Woman loses her leg after being trapped under a moving walkway at Thailand airport #news #dailyhunt https://t.co/c1EeWy23eg
— Dailyhunt (@DailyhuntApp) June 29, 2023
However, the woman is now receiving a second opinion at Banrungrad International Hospital. Doctors there have claimed that the leg can be reattached, The Straits Times reported.
“On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the accident,” Don Mueang Airport Director Karun Thanakuljeerapat said during a news conference.
“I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again.”
Woman's leg had to be amputated in Thai airport after it was trapped by moving walkway, @AP rpts: https://t.co/6FFe9AlZbj
— Mark Albert (@malbertnews) June 29, 2023
Thanakuljeerapat made it clear that the airport will cover the passenger’s medical costs and is open to discussing additional compensation.
The moving walkway that was the cause of this woman’s life being altered forever was manufactured in 1996 by the Japanese company Hitachi.
