NINE people were hurt in a Beijing Carrefour outlet yesterday as a group of shoppers were stuck behind a long row of shopping trolleys on a downwards escalator, the Jinghua Times reported today.

Seven of the nine injured customers, who suffered bruises, were more than 60 years old, the report said.

Yang Dianxi, one of the injured, told the newspaper he and his wife were in front of the crowd as the escalator went from the third to second floor.

A female Carrefour employee was returning a long row of shopping trolleys to the second floor. The shopping carts rammed into a wall and blocked people from getting off the escalator. Customers got jammed against the shopping carts as the escalator continued running down, Yang said in the report.

A woman surnamed Gao told Jinghua Times that she saw an old lady knocked out of her wheelchair in the ensuing chaos.

The escalator was later stopped as customers called for help, the report said.

Carrefour employee Zheng Chunfeng, who was handling the trolleys, said her colleague, who was at the front of the line of shopping buggies, told her to turn the carts in the wrong direction, causing them to crash into a wall.

Carrefour employees took the injured to a sitting area, but gave no further explanations, victim Wang Kuiying told the newspaper, admitting that she later called 110 and 999 for help.

The injured were discharged from hospital in the afternoon, said the report.

"We are looking into the case and have paid the medical expenses of the injured customers," a Carrefour employee said in the report. Compensation has not yet been negotiated.

It is the second accident at a Carrefour outlet in China this month. Three people were killed and 31 others injured in a stampede at a Carrefour during a sales promotion in Chongqing on November 10.