A shocking video seemingly showing a mother fall to her death beneath an escalator in front of her son has appeared online.

The 15-second video was uploaded to YouTube today, and claims to show CCTV footage from the Jingzhou Shashi Anliang department store in China, reports UK-based the daily Mirror.

The video shows the mother and boy reaching the top of the escalator, before the floor in front collapses.

The mother manages to push the child to safety, but is swallowed up into the machinery, despite the efforts of staff.

The woman's body was found three hours later, the daily reported quoting LiveLeak.com.

As they step off the escalator, the floor appears to collapse beneath them

It is not the first time a faulty escalator has claimed someone's life.

Earlier this year, six-year-old Nurhayada Sofia died at a shopping centre in Malaysia when she fell five floors having being dragged over the edge by an escalator.

Last year mother of two Naima Rharouity died when she fell while travelling on an escalator in Montreal. A piece of clothing got stuck in the mechansim and tightened around her neck, strangling her.

And in 2003, Professor Sally Baldwin, from York, died when the escalator she was using at a railway station in Rome collapsed and trapped her in the cogwheels.