5-year-old gets arm trapped in escalator

Distressing footage reportedly shows a 5-year-old girl getting her arm stuck in an escalator after she forgot to let go of the handrail.

The video shows the little girl riding the escalator with her mother at a shopping centre in Hanchuan, China.

Her left hand is firmly on the rubber handrail, but she doesn't let go as she reaches the floor above and the handrail rolls back underneath the floor panel.

The girl crouches down at the escalator exit and her left arm is pulled into the mechanism along with the disappearing handrail. The video shows the unnamed girl lying helplessly on the floor as her arm remains trapped inside the escalator.

Even though her mother is nearby, she can’t do anything to help.

Luckily, members of the local fire service managed to rescue the girl in just 10 minutes by dismantling the plastic housing surrounding the handrail conveyor system.

The little girl was able to escape serious injury and ended up with a cut, for which she was given stitches at a local hospital, and some swelling, it was reported.

She's recovering after the accident, but it's still unclear whether the shopping centre has offered to pay for her medical bills.