Escalator situation: boy survives ride
Updated on 26 May 2010
A four-year old boy narrowly escaped injury after he climbed to the second floor of a Turkish shopping centre by clinging onto the outside of an escalator rail.
Amazing video has emerged of the boy riding to the second floor of the store in Istanbul - holding onto the outside of the moving stairway.
The film shows him playing at the bottom and grabbing the rail before being hoisted upwards, with no chance of turning back.
Ali Apari, a quick-thinking shopkeeper, spotted the escalating situation and ran to catch the boy, as he dangled 2.5m above the ground. A security camera captured the moment Apari came to the rescue.
He told reporters: "I noticed the child playing near the escalators, there was nothing dangerous at that time.
"I turned back to the store and I was told that he was climbing onto the outside of the escalator rail. So I ran outside and saw that he was about to fall down.
"I have health problems but despite that I did my best to catch him when he fell off and I managed to do so."
The boy, who was not hurt, left the mall with his shell-shocked father.
