SALT LAKE CITY — Russian soccer fans were on their way to a match in Rome on Tuesday when the unexpected happened.
According to ABC News, a crowded escalator seriously malfunctioned at the Repubblica station of the Rome Metro Line A. The escalator accelerated unexpectedly, sending people flying down to the bottom at a dangerous speed before it collapsed.
Victims of the incident piled up at the bottom, some tried to escape by jumping onto the middle barrier that separated the up escalator from the down.
Watch the video below.
According to The Guardian, 24 people were injured in the accident. The victims were sent to five different hospitals in the Rome area for treatment.
CNN reported that three people were left in critical condition, including one man whose foot was partially severed by the metal plates of the collapsed escalator.
“There has certainly been a failure of the escalator,” Rome’s chief firefighter, Giampietro Boscaino, said according to a report by The Guardian. “But we cannot say how it happened. It’s a strange incident.”
The Rome Metro has been closed due to the escalator malfunction and local authorities are investigating.