Hong Kong  - Two four-year-old Hong Kong boys were injured in separate incidents after being trapped in escalators by their trendy Crocs sandals, a news report said Monday.

Firemen and paramedics were called to help a boy Sunday morning when he was trapped by his right foot in an escalator at a underground train station in the city's Tin Hau district.

An hour later, at an underground train station in the city's Taikoo area, another boy was taken to hospital after injuring his foot in the same way, the South China Morning Post reported.

Both boys were wearing the fashionable plastic sandals and both got their feet stuck between the escalator step and the side panel of the escalator, the newspaper said. Neither was badly hurt.

A spokesman for the Hong Kong General Union of Lifts and Escalators Employees told the newspaper the soft texture of Crocs sandals made wearers prone to such accidents.

"If anything is caught in the side panels of the escalator, a safety system will be activated and the escalator will stop," the spokesman said.

"Since the Crocs sandals are very soft compared with other shoes, sensors might not immediately detect something caught and activate the safety system."

Children liked to stand on the side of escalators and run their feet along the brushes at the side, putting them at risk of getting their feet caught, he added.

There was no immediate response to emailed questions about the reported incidents sent to Crocs by the German Press Agency dpa. Crocs sell in 125 countries. (dpa)