The escalator in a local mall in Shanghai halts operation on August 2, 2015, after a cleaner's leg was stuck in the escalator's gap and was amputated. [Photo: CFP]

A latest escalator accident in a department store in Shanghai was caused by violations of operation regulations, local municipal quality watchdog made the assessment on Sunday via its official Weibo account.

The Shanghai Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau says the victim, a cleaning staff at the store, was cleaning with a mop without shutting down the escalator on Saturday night, which caused the accident.

The victim's leg got stuck in the escalator's gap and was later amputated.

The department store has temporarily halted the escalator's operation .

The incident comes on the heels of a series of accidents related to elevators and escalators in China.

On Saturday afternoon, a 16-year-old teenager was killed after getting stuck in an elevator at a residential building in the city of Lu'an, in east China's Anhui Province.

According to police investigations, the victim went to the building to service an elevator maintenance request yesterday afternoon and then lost contact with the service company.

Earlier last Sunday a woman was killed after falling into the gap that suddenly appeared on the escalator in a shopping mall in Jingzhou city, in central China's Hubei Province.