Saudi King's Gold Escalator Malfunctions, 'Poor Guy' Is Forced To Walk The Rest Of The Way

Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz has a reputation of travelling lavishly on his state visits. As part of his entourage on his latest visit to Russia, he flew in 1,500 staff members, plush carpets, and a golden escalator.

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The 81-year-old king met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. But before that, he had to go through an ordeal that made headlines all around the world.

While disembarking his aircraft, the gold escalator malfunctioned forcing His Majesty to walk to the tarmac of Vnukovo International Airport.

Saudi King's gold escalator fail during his arrival to Moscow on historic state visit pic.twitter.com/5l1GeBT7bH https://t.co/IvVqAarbbO

¡ª RT (@RT_com) October 6, 2017

For a few brief seconds, he stood confused, not knowing what to do. Twitter picked up on that and made a few jokes.

I half expected him to be carried the rest of the way; the way he was standing there.

¡ª blacanuck (@blacanuck) October 6, 2017

And the poor guy had to walk?

¡ª Alex Max (@AlexMax4500) October 6, 2017

The bloke in charge of the escalator will have his head chopped off when he gets back to Saudi..

¡ª Simon Cotto (@simon_cotto) October 6, 2017

All the problems money can buy.

¡ª Cris Palomino (@crispalomino) October 6, 2017

I just don't have any words to express my sympathy

¡ª Roger (@roger1over) October 5, 2017

Hope he's okay after this traumatic test of courage

¡ª Hadi Abdul (@hadi_abd92) October 6, 2017

Glad he survived!