Nine people remained hospitalized following Wednesday night's accident, authorities said. Their conditions were not released, though assistant fire Chief Larry Trujillo said most injuries were fractures, cuts and bruises, and none appeared to be critical.
A near-capacity crowd of 47,032, the largest since opening day, had watched the Colorado Rockies defeat Arizona and most had stayed for a post-game fireworks show. The accident happened shortly after 10 p.m.
Stadium vendor Alex Frenier said people were screaming and falling down.
``I saw people's heads all hitting each other,'' he said. ``I heard people's bodies banging against that thing.''
Cherri Brownfield, who was on the escalator, said it sped up.
``It's like it had no brakes and everybody was just piling up at the end of it,'' she said. ``People were just falling on each other.''
Added witness Nick Nossinger: ``People were just sliding down like an avalanche.''
Rockies spokesman Jay Alvis said the witness accounts about the device speeding up had not been confirmed.
On May 24, another escalator at Coors Field stopped abruptly during a game, leaving 12 people with cuts, bruises and other minor injuries. The cause of that accident has not been determined, Alvis said.
Officials with Kone Corp., which installed and maintains the stadium's seven escalators, were on hand Thursday, working with city building inspectors. The stadium opened in April 1995.
All escalators will be shut down for Thursday evening's game against Arizona. A full crowd was expected for the game and another fireworks show.
Trujillo said inspectors who looked at the escalator after the accident found nothing to explain what happened.
``Everything looked in place and everything looked stable,'' he said.
He said he didn't know of any previous problems with the escalator.
On Sunday, 13 people died after a third-story porch at a Chicago apartment collapsed. As many as 50 people were crammed onto the porch for a party when the floor dropped from under them, sending people and debris crashing to the ground.
