A 57-year-old woman has been left "seriously injured" after her leg got stuck in the belt of a travelator at an airport in Thailand. A woman has lost part of her leg after getting it trapped in an airport travelator Thursday morning. The incident unfolded at Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport when the female traveller found herself stuck in a moving walkway just after 9am in the departures area of Terminal 2.

The woman, a 57-year-old Thai national, was on the way to board her 9.45am scheduled flight before she tripped over a suitcase and fell somewhere along the walkway. Her left leg then got caught at the edge of the moving walkway's belt with the motion of the travelator dragging her down a few metres.

The airport’s on-site medics rushed to the woman’s side, with the team having to perform an emergency amputation to remove the mangled section of the limb. A substantial section of her leg was cut off starting from above the knee.

The 57-year-old was taken to Bhumibol Adulyadej Hospital for treatment then transferred to a bigger facility, Bumrungrad International Hospital, where an attempt to reconnect the amputated part of the leg was made. According to the Straits Times, the hospital later announced that the chances of a successful limb replantation were looking positive.

Airport management addressed the media following the accident on Thursday afternoon, confirming a committee had already been established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. Don Mueang Airport director Karun Thanakuljeerapat expressed his sympathies to the victim and pledged resources towards her recovery.

“On behalf of the Don Mueang International Airport, I’d like to express my deepest condolences regarding the incident, Mr Thanakuljeerapat said. “I’d like to insist that we will ensure that no such accident will happen again. Airports of Thailand said it would cover the cost of the woman’s medical bills along with potentially providing further compensation for the injury.

Meanwhile, the travelators in the airport have been temporarily disabled while authorities conduct a thorough check for any faults. The moving walkway in question was a fairly older one in comparison to the airport’s other travelators, being in operation for 27 years, the Thaiger reported. Mr Karun confirmed the system had not been updated since its installation in 1996, but the nature of the accident would speed up the airport’s already in-action plans to replace a number of old travelators by 2025.

The woman was enroute to Nakorn Sri Thammarat in Thailand’s southern Nakhon Si Thammarat province before the incident took place. Don Mueang Airport is a hub for domestic flights inter-connecting several smaller regions of the country.