The Engineering Institute of Thailand (EIT) has said a broken suitcase wheel might have caused an accident which resulted in a woman losing part of her left leg after falling on one of the Don Mueang airport's moving walkways.
Boonpong Kijwatanachai, adviser to the EIT's mechanical engineering committee, on Friday gave an update on the airport's travellator system following the accident that occurred on Thursday morning.
The EIT has assumed that the luggage wheel may have been stuck and broke the travellator's comb, which then fell under the platform and pried the platform open wide enough for the woman's leg to fall in.
The sensor system remains functional, so the system was running normally while the incident happened, Mr Boonpong said.
However, investigations into the accident are ongoing, he said.
Mr Boonpong said that the automatic sliding travellator system had remained intact and received maintenance checks in line with standards.
In addition, maintenance workers had been testing the system daily before the system was operated, he said.
The EIT is urging people to be careful and avoid using a mobile phone while using both a travellator and an escalator, he said.
But the EIT has also urged people not to panic about using travellators or escalators as they are designed in line with the EN115 or European standards.
Travellators are designed for flat surface use and can hold a total weight of 160 kilogrammes per panel, while an escalator can hold a weight of 75kg per panel, he added.
Meanwhile, Pol Col Adirek Tongkeamkeaw, superintendent of Don Mueang Police, said investigators are questioning all related individuals while waiting for test results from Police Forensic Science.
As part of that, police will also look into the outsourced company conducting the systems maintenance service, he said.
The injured woman is being treated in an ICU room at Bumrungrad International Hospital, Pol Col Adirek added.
A son of the injured woman said via Facebook that he was concerned about his mother's mental condition as she could not imagine living with only one leg.
He thanked those people who expressed their concern over his mother's well-being.
A team of psychiatrists has provided initial assistance to his mother, he said.
