A 24-year-old Indian man fell to his death from the fourth floor of the newly opened Marks & Spencer outlet in Shanghai on Sunday evening.

The customer, Harshit Shah, was shopping with his wife before he toppled off an escalator and plummeted to the ground floor, according to Zhang Yandong, media coordinator for Jing'an District police.

Shah's wife called police with the help of Marks & Spencer employees, but her husband was dead before help arrived, Zhang said.

The fall was an accident, Zhang added. Witnesses said Shah, who reportedly worked in the local diamond trade, was riding the escalator from the fourth floor and craned his neck to look down just before he fell.

The store closed its doors immediately after the mishap to stop more customers from entering the building, according to witnesses.

Zhang Zhenyi, brand manager of the Marks & Spencer Shanghai outlet, said the escalator was built according to regulations and carried appropriate safety signs.

"We've had yellow signs warning against leaning on the escalators since the outlet opened," Zhang said.

Police, however, told Xinhua news agency that there was a dangerous two-meter gap between the two adjacent escalators, which are at the center of a four-story atrium. The police were still investigating the case last night.

The Marks & Spencer outlet opened last Thursday and is the British retail giant's biggest store in Asia.

(Shanghai Daily October 7, 2008)