10 hurt at school
Escalator glitch sends pupils to hosp
Ten people were hospitalized Thursday following an escalator mishap at Stuyvesant High School — and one of the injured lost part of his big toe, officials and witnesses said.
The escalator between the second and third floors inside the Chambers St. learning institution began malfunctioning about 3:45 p.m., officials said.
The victims, mostly students, were on the escalator when it happened. No one was seriously hurt, but the scene was quite bloody, witnesses said.
“I just see this kid lying down on the ground, at the bottom of the escalator, and then I just see blood all over the floor,” freshman Kameron Chowdhury, 14, said. “His foot was like, cut, and you could see bones — it was, like, crazy.
“The kid, he was screaming out in pain,” the teen said. “You could see just, like, flesh, literally flesh … just skin on the floor. ”
FDNY officials classified the injuries as “bumps, scrapes and cuts.” A source said one injury was classified as a “partial amputation”: A 15-year-old student’s foot got stuck in the elevator and the pad of his toe suffered a bad cut.
Medics rushed the victims to Bellevue Hospital and New York Hospital-Downtown, officials said.
The escalator has been turned off as a probe of the malfunction is completed.
“The safety of students and staff is our top priority,” city Department of Education spokeswoman Miranda Barbot said. “FDNY and EMS responded to a serious incident involving an escalator at Stuyvesant High School and students are being treated for non-life threatening injuries. We’re providing the school, students, and families with additional support.”