A Sydney mother is devastated after her son's thumb was cut off while he was travelling on an escalator.
Anora Fairchild and her son Lewis were shopping at Broadway shopping center in Sydney on Saturday when the freak accident happened.
Lewis was on an escalator when a sharp piece of metal sticking out below the handrail chopped his thumb off 7News reported.
“Lewis was crying and he held his hand out and it was bloody,” Anora told 7NEWS.
“It yanked out his tendons, went through the bone - it was hacked, it was not a clean job.”
Lewis was taken to Sydney Children's Hospital but they were unable to save his thumb.
Anora is now asking shopping centres to better maintain their escalators.
”We could not have ever imagined a quick trip to our local shopping centre would be our worst nightmare that we can’t wake up from,” she told 7News.
In a statement to 7NEWS, Broadway Sydney said: “Our thoughts are with the child and his family, and the health and safety of all of our customers and staff remain our highest priority.
“We have tried to make contact with the family following the incident.
“We are undertaking an extensive investigation into the incident and working with the authorities.”
