Volunteers rescued a juvenile starling that was severely injured when it was caught between an escalator's steps in Singapore.

The young Asian glossy starling was heard crying out in pain while jammed between the escalator platform and a moving comb plate along the Orchard Road shopping area on August 7.

Its calls for help were heard by local Douglas Ong, who found the hapless creature frantically flapping its wings in a desperate attempt to pull itself free. He hurriedly pressed the stop button to turn the escalator off before trying to release the bird.

Douglas was able to extract the starling's left leg, but its right leg remained wedged deep in the mechanism's comb plate. With no other choice, he had to call animal welfare group ACRES for help.

The volunteers poured cooking oil on the piece of metal, hoping the bird could slip free - to no avail. They resorted to dismantling a portion of the treads to finally rescue the exhausted animal, which was rushed to the intensive care unit of the ACRES animal shelter.

Veterinarians realigned the starling's beak and gave it painkillers, but the bird sadly died the next morning due to the severity of its injuries. It is believed to have lost too much blood as its right leg had been completely skinned, with its left leg suffering multiple fractures.

The Asian glossy starling - so named because of its gleaming black-green plumage - is native to South and Southeast Asia. It is listed under 'Least Concern' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.