Airport visitors injured on escalator

Keith Paul

Friday, Feb. 18, 2000 | 11:19 a.m.

Dozens of people hauling luggage up a long escalator at McCarran International Airport Thursday found themselves quickly at the bottom in a heap when the escalator stopped and the steps unfolded, creating a slide.

Several people on the escalator in the D gates terminal jumped over the railing onto another up-bound escalator, but most of the 30 to 40 people on the escalator found themselves sliding the 65 feet to the marble floor below.

"There were some people piled up on each other," said Randall Walker, the county's director of aviation. "We have no clue as to why this happened."

Six people were transported to local hospitals for minor injuries after the accident that happened at about 2:15 p.m. Another 10 escalator riders were treated in the airport by paramedics and released, said Kathi Rice, American Medical Response spokeswoman.

The other people on the escalator apparently were not injured and didn't wait around for paramedics to arrive and just continued on their way, said Hilarie Grey, an airport spokeswoman.

The escalator -- one of four at the D gates -- first came to a stop, and then the steps disappeared, creating a flat surface, Walker said.

"Everyone was sliding backwards," he said.

The escalator was shut down Thursday afternoon, and maintenance workers from the contractor who installed it pulled the equipment apart looking for what caused the malfunction.

The other three escalators continued working in addition to a flight of stairs with 65 steps located between the pairs of escalators.

Montgomery Kone, a local elevator/escalator contractor, installed the four escalators in the terminal that opened in June 1998.

A woman who answered the phone at Montgomery Kone Thursday said the company would have no comment on the incident.

All of the airport's 20 escalators go through routine maintenance. An escalator near the ticketing area was being taken apart Thursday as part of routine maintenance, Grey said.

Airport officials said while escalators have stopped while riders were on them before, they could not remember a time when the steps folded in.

Keith Paul covers crime and public safety for the Sun. He can be reached at (702) 259-4057 or by e-mail at keith@lasvegassun.com