Family outing turns tragic as child dies in escalator mishap

KUALA LUMPUR: A seven-year-old girl died after falling from the third floor of a shopping mall here this afternoon.
The girl was on a shopping outing with her parents when the incident occurred at about 2pm.
The family was said to be hanging around the foot of the escalator when the girl held on to the moving handrail and was pulled up while dangling out. Before the parents can grab her, she released her grip and plunged to her death.
Brickfields OCPD ACP Muhammad Azlee Abdullah said the emergency team confirmed the victim had died on the spot due to injuries to the back of her head.
"The parents said she was with them and had looked away for a while. The next thing they knew, their daughter had fallen onto the ground floor of the mall," he said when contacted.
Muhammad Azlee added that the body was sent to the Universiti Malaya Medical Centre for post-mortem.
The shopping mall management had cordoned off the site of the tragedy.
Pictures of the incident went viral this afternoon on social media.