A woman has been killed in a fall of about 100ft (30m) from the third floor of a clothes store in Liverpool.
Merseyside Police said she was found at the bottom of escalators on the ground floor of Primark in Church Street, at 18:00 BST on Tuesday.
Police said the 57-year-old woman had been seen moments before at a balcony next to the third-floor escalators.
She was treated by a doctor at the scene but was pronounced dead later at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.
Five years ago, at the same store, a three-year-old girl fell through a gap between the escalators to the lower ground floor while travelling up to the third floor with her family.
She broke her left leg and arm and suffered internal injuries but survived.
Detectives are now trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the incident.
Artist Brian Gibson was just getting off the escalator in the men’s department in the basement level when he heard a thud.
Mr Gibson told Liverpoolecho.co.uk: “I was just on the escalator, when I saw a shadow come down past me.
“Then I heard an almighty thud. At first I thought it was a dummy that had fallen but then I realised that someone had fallen from one of the floors above.
“The impact was incredible. The poor lad on the escalator behind me was shaking.
“People were crying and then they evacuated everyone and the police cordoned off the area.”
Another witness said: “It was horrific, staff were crying and there was a call out for any medics in the shop to come and help out.”
A North West Ambulance spokeswoman confirmed paramedics had taken the woman to the Royal Liverpool hospital.
She said: “The woman suffered a traumatic cardiac arrest at the scene and was treated by paramedics.
“She was taken to hospital in a critically ill condition.”
Around three hours later police confirmed the woman had died in hospital.
A Merseyside Police spokesman said: “Officers were called to the Primark store in Church Street at 6pm by paramedics.
“The woman was found at the bottom of escalators on the ground floor. She had been seen moments before by a balcony next to the escalators on the third floor. A male doctor who was in the area at the time treated the woman at the scene before paramedics arrived.
“She was taken in a critical condition to hospital where she was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
“A post-mortem will be carried out in due course to establish a cause of death.
“Patrols are trying to establish her identity so that her family can be informed.
“Detectives are speaking to witnesses and viewing CCTV to establish the full circumstances of the incident.”
The incident is the second major fall to happen in the escalator area of the city’s Primark store.
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