A Chinese mother has died after becoming trapped following the sudden collapse of an escalator at a shopping mall. The woman fought to push her son out of danger before being swallowed by the mechanism. 
 
 The woman’s body was recovered more than four hours later, according to witnesses who posted pictures on China’s Twitter-like Weibo platform. 
 
 Rescuers told local newspaper Wuhan Evening News that the victim’s whole body was sucked into the treads of the escalator. Firefighters had to cut up the treads to pull her body out, the newspaper said. 
 
 Video: Viewer discretion advised: 
 
 The accident happened at Anliang Department Store in Jingzhou, Hubei on Sunday. 
 
 The 31-year-old mother and her son, who is under three years of age, had just reached the top of an escalator when a metal board adjoining the escalator and the concrete floor subsided, creating a void that threatened to swallow the two, according to a video posted on Weibo. 
 
 The mother quickly held up her child, who was pulled out by one of three women standing nearby while she herself fell into the pit. It is thought that the women, wearing uniforms, may have been members of staff from the shopping mall. 
 
 The woman who took the child appeared to try pulling out the mother, but it was too late as the mother disappeared under the escalator. Weibo users accused the shopping mall of trying to cover up the accident, which was not reported in the Chinese media until hours after it happened. 
 
 Less than two hours after the accident, a user on Weibo who claimed to be the victim’s sister-in-law, posted pictures of the victim’s family waiting for authorities to pull out her body. The pictures also showed police guarding the accident scene. 
 
 Netizens questioned why the escalator did not stop after the victim fell inside. Some also pointed out witnesses should have pushed the emergency button to stop the escalator. 
 
 Update: Mall escalator tragedy could have been prevented. 
 
 Update: New footage shows moment staff almost fall victim to faulty escalator minutes before mother is killed 
 
 Related: Manufacturer of escalator that killed woman applies to go public in China 
 
 Related: Times Square elevator terrifies passengers after plunging four storeys 
 
 Comments ||||| A woman was killed in central China when part of an escalator she was travelling on in a shopping centre collapsed under her feet and she fell through the gap. 
 
 The woman aged 30 managed to push her two-year-old boy to safety at the top of the escalator before she fell into the machinery, the Wuhan Evening News reported. 
 
 Surveillance video at the shopping mall in Jingzhou shows the woman holding her son as she prepares to get off the escalator when a footplate collapses under her feet. 
 
 Stuck in the hole and with only her upper body above the structure, she pushed her son forwards and he was caught by a shopping assistant standing near the top of the escalator. 
 
 The woman fell beneath the floor only a few seconds later after another shopping assistant tried to grab her arm and failed. 
 
 The South China Morning Post has not published the video as some readers might find it disturbing. 
 
 Relatives said the woman, who was only identified by her surname Xiang, was shopping with her husband on Sunday when the accident happened. 
 
 The husband was walking behind her wife and son and had yet to take the escalator from the fifth to the sixth floor, the newspaper reported. 
 
 An unnamed sourced was quoted as saying that the accident was probably caused by workers failing to tighten screws on a footplate in the escalator during maintenance. 
 
 The shopping mall has yet to make a formal statement about the accident. 
 
 It took rescuers nearly four hours to recover the body of the woman, according to the newspaper. 
 
 Twelve people were injured last year after an escalator on the subway in Shanghai started going backwards. 
 
 One boy was killed in a similar accident on Beijing’s subway in 2011 when an escalator went into reverse. ||||| Beijing (AFP) - A woman was killed after she plunged through flooring over an escalator in a Chinese department store, reports said Monday, thrusting her toddler to safety as she fell to her death. 
 
 Xiang Liujuan, 30, was holding her son in front of her as they went up the stairway on Saturday, the Wuhan Evening News said. 
 
 Security camera footage of the incident posted online showed a panel in the floor giving way as Xiang stepped off the escalator. As she fell half-way through she pushed her son forward, and a nearby shop assistant dragged him to safety. 
 
 But the escalator continued rolling, and several seconds later Xiang is seen disappearing downwards into the mechanism, despite one of the staff briefly grabbing her hand. 
 
 It took firefighters more than four hours to cut open the machine and recover the woman, who showed "no signs of life", the newspaper report said. 
 
 The footage shows employees standing at the top of the escalator as the mother and child approach. 
 
 Maintenance had just been carried out on the escalator at the Anliang department store in Jingzhou in the central province of Hubei, and workers forgot to screw the access cover back into place, the newspaper cited an unnamed source as saying. 
 
 The accident was one of the top topics on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo on Monday with more than 6.6 million views. 
 
 Most comments expressed fury at the shop management. 
 
 "Why didn't the staffers stop customers at the entrance to the machine or just turn it off?" wrote one. "The department store is definitely responsible." 
 
 Others were moved by the woman's final actions. 
 
 "I was appalled when I saw her sink and at the same time felt the greatness of maternal love -- the mother wasted no time pushing the child out when it happened," said one. 
 
 China is prone to safety accidents as regulations and standards are often flouted and enforcement is lax, sometimes due to corruption. 
 
 In 2012, a nine-year-old boy was killed after he got stuck in an escalator at a Beijing department store as horrified shoppers looked on. 
 
 In July 2011, a 13-year-old boy was killed and more than 20 others injured when an escalator in a Beijing underground station suddenly reversed direction during the rush hour.
– It's a gruesome way to go: A 30-year-old mother was killed in central China over the weekend when the metal floor panel that sat between the top of a mall escalator and the floor beyond gave way as she and her son exited the escalator. But as the woman, identified as Xiang Liujuan, fell halfway through, she pushed her toddler son to safety. The South China Morning Post reports a woman standing nearby caught him, moved him to the side, then managed to briefly grab Xiang's hand. But seconds later she was gone, pulled in by the machinery. Most details come from outlets citing the Wuhan Evening News, as well as an extremely graphic video of the incident. The Hong Kong Free Press reports by way of the Evening News that Xiang's entire body was "sucked into" the escalator's treads. Those treads had to be cut in order for her to be removed, in a process that took roughly four hours. Her husband was reportedly on the scene; he had apparently been with his wife and son but hadn't gotten on the escalator yet. AFP cites an anonymous Evening News source who claims work had recently been completed on the escalator and that the maintenance workers failed to properly screw in the access panel. The incident occurred at the Anliang department store in Jingzhou, Hubei province, and public opinion seemed to be split between faulting store management for not immediately turning the escalator off and praising the mother's dying act of love. (A woman was killed last year after her scarf and hair became caught in a Montreal subway.)