Will Katcher
masslive.com
BOSTON — At least nine people were injured Sunday night when an escalator at the MBTA’s Back Bay station malfunctioned, sending riders tumbling to the bottom, reports from multiple news sources said.
At roughly 6 p.m., the escalator connecting the Amtrak and commuter rail platforms to the street-level “flattened like a slide,” NBC Boston said.
Witnesses reported seeing a group of people piled at the bottom of the escalator, some bleeding.
“It’s normally steps going up and then it turned into a slide and went backwards, and that’s when people fell,” Eli Smith, who was waiting for a train at the time, told NBC Boston and WHDH.
“There’s like four people laying down in a puddle of blood at the end of the escalator and people coming up, holding their heads,” he said.
Boston emergency responders said nine people were transported to the hospital with injuries “minor in nature.”
Multiple trains were delayed, the MBTA said on Twitter, citing a “medical emergency.”
The escalator was blocked later Sunday evening by a “do not enter sign.” Though unsure why it malfunctioned, the MBTA said it would keep the escalator closed while the agency investigated, NBC Boston said.
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