This is the harrowing moment a two-year-old girl had to be rescued after getting her fingers stuck in an escalator.

The toddler was about to step off the moving stairway when she stumbled and landed on her bottom at the shopping mall in Manila, Philippines, last Thursday afternoon (November 8).

She went to stand up but as she put her hands down for support, her tiny fingers were sucked into the gap at the bottom of the escalator.

The girl's frantic mother - who was standing next to her - called for help and a security guard ran over and slammed the emergency stop button.

He was filmed desperately trying to free the youngster who is heard crying and writhing around in pain.

Staff eventually released her injured hand, which was bleeding from cuts on her fingers, and she was carried back up the escalator and taken to the hospital.

Onlooker Antonio Romero said: ''The child was holding hands with her mother but she let go. Then the girl stumbled at the bottom of the escalator and when she tried to get back up her had was stuck.

''Her little fingers got stuck in the space between the escalator steps at the metal on the ground. She was hurting a lot and very distressed but the guards were able to help her.''

The toddler was rushed to a clinic before being transferred to hospital Quirino Memorial Medical Center where medics checked her over and found she had not suffered any broken fingers.