Escalator malfunctions and speeds up, sends hockey fans tumbling

A terrifying accident caught on video shows the moment an escalator at Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia malfunctioned and started to speed up, sending the people on it flying to the bottom.

It all played out on Saturday after the Philadelphia Flyers won their game against the Ottawa Senators. Cheering hockey fans were exiting the building down the escalator when the staircase suddenly started to accelerate.

According to CBS Sports, people were being thrown from the speeding escalator and were crashing into each other as they reached the bottom floor. Some jumped over the side.

"Escalator got a little excited about the flyers win too," Meghan McGreevy wrote on Facebook after posting the video of the human pile-up. 

Mike Deej tweeted that he was on the escalator at the time:  "Never felt anything like that. We were about halfway down and the thing started flying."

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.  

Ike Richman, who owns the Flyers and Wells Fargo Center, issued a statement to NBC 10:

"We immediately closed it down to protect our patrons and notified the operator. We are working with the operator on investigating this incident. We did not use that particular escalator during tonight's Sixers game. We expect it to be working in time for Tuesday's Sixers game, which is our next event."

Watch the video HERE.

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