6 injured in escalator accident at Akihabara Station in Tokyo

lost thumbnail....now thats pretty bad. if you are a carpenter, a doctor, a musician etc...its a big lawsuit coming.

It is unfortunate that the victims will probably never be able to get retribution. It'll just be another 'shoganai' case with plenty of apologies.

Ow!

PeaceWarrior, I think it's likely the victims will get "retribution" (you probably mean "compensation"), but it might take a while and be a take-it-or-leave-it offer.

Police said three victims lost their thumbnails.

wow, nasty! Just the thought makes my skin crawl.

They should get their medical bills and any lost income covered in full, plus a few extra man by way of apology. And that should be it.

One of the best things about this country is the lack of ambulance-chasing lawyers who live as parasites off other people's misfortune, while pretending to be fighting for their "rights". Horrible people.

You are completely right, Nessie, thanks. I think I was going down the rabbit hole when I posted that.

Cheers, and let's hope compensation is what they go for.

OMG. That's a horrible accident. I assumed by reading the headline this it was a sudden stop on the escalator, and the people had a crash landing. This is a new one for me.

Horrible accident. Not long ago people trip from stairs and now escalator..no safe way either...jump would be the best option

Yeesh! I always thought the escalators looked pretty robust, but clearly something went wrong with that one. I hope the people who were hurt can get some sort of compensation... something like losing nails can affect your work in so many ways.

Ouch! Ouch! ouch! ouch! Ouch! (My eyes are watering just thinking about it.)

Sheesh.... I hope the people are duly compensated. Sounds like a horror story.

Cheers, and let's hope compensation is what they go for

Compensation is a dish best served cold. ;)

Akihabara - JR's most anti-social railway station. Always found it the most painful to use.

From photos on the TV news, it's difficult for me to believe that the buckled section got that way spontaneously. It really looks as if it had been pried, or bashed. Perhaps it was purposeful vandalization, perhaps it was caught and bent by luggage, but it really doesn't look like something that happened due to normal wear and tear.

This is a really odd coincidence. About two weeks ago, I saw a horrible scene on the escalators at Akihabara.

A young salaryman running full speed and pulling a small wheeled suitcase - the kind you see everywhere - literally ran onto the down escalator knocking people over. He toppled head over heels to the bottom in a gruesome fall. His body was limp and motionless at the bottom as people cleared away. Blood and his shattered glasses were all over the bottom. I don't know what happened to him, but it was very bad. He must've hit his head/face right on the metal stairs. Why he ran so fast onto the escalator, with pull-bag banging down the steps and over people is beyond me. This was far more than the usual rushing commuter pushing past people. It happened around 4PM, so I don't think he was drunk. When I first saw this today, it looked exactly like the same escalator the guy fell down, but it was the escalator to the platform for Yamanote bound for Tokyo.

Freak accident. I never touch the escalator handrails as they are not clean.

Lucky no one lost a thumb or other fingers. Maybe some escalator company will invent an automatic stop built into the system that will shut down the escalator at any malfunction.

Another example (the last one was the death of a woman) of the need to teach students in school how to use the emergency red shut off button on the escalators and at local train stations. The red button is the automatic shut down if people just knew how to use it.

Yikes. That sounds painful. Three losing their thumbnail.... I had my big toe's nail fall off due to an injury and it took MONTHS to fully grow back and even then it wasn't the same. I wholly agree that compensation is due. @Balefire that's really interesting. Kind of puts more of a bad light on JR. A lot can happen to an elevator in 5 and a half hours, especially during rush hour in Akihabara. @hr2 That is a really gruesome story. I really hope he's alright....

Elevator Rant. **READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*** From the fact that their left hands got injured we can infer that they were on the left "standing" side of the escalator. This would have been avoided if everyone just walked. Traffic into and out of the train stations would be much faster if everyone just walked. I'm not talking about a full on hustle, just a little more pace than the zombies that block my way when I'm commuting to work. Some people actually have places to be! I find more and more "normal" people (i.e. people in their 30's or 40's, men and women, who probably have steady jobs) who stand on the center left and clearly block the path of the walking right side. This needs to stop, especially during commuting times!!!!

@OrangeXenon54

"Elevator Rant. **READ AT YOUR OWN RISK***" I think you meant escalator...

Also I have no idea where this fad of right side is walking and left side is for standing started. The escalator should, for safety-sake, be ALL standing. If you want to walk, get off the train at the nearest exit with a staircase...

Why is so many people's first thought 'sue them !' It's a machine,machines break down,even after recent inspections such as this one.Always about the money today,poor victim of negligence me.

And this just vindicates JR in making those constant announcements abiout this and that at stations being dangerous and how we should all be caereful and so on.

Privatized Terrorist JR