Escalator accident boy ‘has nightmares’
A MONTH after 6-year-old UK boy Euan Hird was injured while on an escalator at the Gateway mall in uMhlanga, investigators are yet to determine the cause of the apparent malfunction.
According to the mall management, due to the nature of the investigation, the process was fairly lengthy and the investigation was therefore still under way. There was no time-frame for when it would be completed.
Speaking from her fish and chips shop in Carnforth in the north-west of England, Euan’s mom, Nishala Hird, said he attended school last week on crutches.
“He is moving on his heel for short distances, to help with the circulation, but he is still way off his mobility. His wound needs to be dressed every two days and he is being assessed weekly by doctors. Blood circulation to his foot is still an issue.”
The former Durbanite said she was just grateful that Euan did not need further surgery.
But in the same breath Hird said the risk of him losing his little toe was still a concern.
She added that she was uncertain if she would take up the matter legally.
“At this stage we are just focused on Euan’s recovery. He is affected psychologically. He has nightmares and screams because he fears he will lose his foot. He also doesn’t want to be left alone,” she said.
“Now that he is back at school, we are hoping work occupies his mind and he gets back a sense of normalcy.”
Asked how he would get around at school, she said: “Thankfully, he is in a small school and the staff will help him get around.”
Euan, who arrived in Durban on July 4 with his parents and sister from the UK to celebrate his maternal grandmother’s 60th birthday in the city, got his foot lodged between the steps of an allegedly malfunctioning escalator at Gateway.
His mother said they had just had a family dinner at one of the restaurants when the men and the kids decided to venture off on their own to see the play area and water feature.
“As they were travelling down the escalator, Euan, who was turned to the side to see the feature, was a step behind my cousin.
Stumble
“From what I learnt, the step my relative was on unexpectedly lowered more than it should have, which made him stumble off, while the step my son was on stayed in position. In the process, Euan’s right foot got lodged in the opening,” Hird said at the time.
The relative hit the emergency stop button.
Hird said she and other relatives who remained at the restaurant received a call that Euan had had an accident.
“I don’t know if my heart stopped or raced faster, but we all ran towards the escalator. There was a group of people and we had to push through to see my family. Euan was sitting on a woman’s lap and she was trying to comfort him, but when he saw me he started screaming even louder.”
Hird placed her son on her lap, while teams began to frantically work to free him.
His ordeal would last for an agonising two hours and 45 minutes.
She said a mall technician arrived with no appropriate tools and his efforts were futile.
“It seemed he was out of his depth to deal with the situation.”
A group who were doing shopfitting at the mall at the time helped free him.
Euan was rushed to Umhlanga Hospital where his condition was assessed.
His right foot was crushed and he had multiple compound fractures.
The medical team looked at possible amputation of his lower foot as he had no circulation to his toes.
But he regained circulation in four of his toes and underwent surgery to re-set the bones in his foot.