Woman, 73, falls from mall escalator

A senior citizen accidentally fell from the escalator of a mall in Talamban at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Victim Madolina Narboada, 73, was brought by the personnel of the mall to North General Hospital and she is now in stable condition.

Narboada was with her grandson to shop in the mall when the accident happened.

PO2 Alex Cubelo, desk officer of Talamban Police Station, said that according to the grandson, the escalator was defective.

"According to him, the steps are moving but the handrail was not," Cubelo said.

The mall management immediately called their safety personnel and rushed the victim to North General Hospital.

The management offered to finance the expenses of the patient’s hospitalization but the family refused.

Cebu City Office of the Building Official officer-in-charge Engr. Josefa Ylanan said there is nothing wrong with the mall escalator.

Ylanan immediately sent a team to inspect the escalator after she heard of the accident.

“Based on the video, the senior citizen was with two children. She was on her way up. On the sixth step, she looked back and lost her balance. Our engineers tested the escalator and they did not find any problem,” she told The FREEMAN.

However, inspectors issued a notice to the establishment directing the management to renew the permit to operate.

Ylanan said this year the management failed to renew the permit for the operation of the escalator.

“That should be renewed annually. They have not renewed this year, maybe it was an overlook on their technical management,” she said.