Chilling CCTV footage shows a three-year-old boy playing around an escalator just moments before he plunged 20ft to his death.

Tragic Jaiden Cowart was with his siblings, aged just two and four, when he died in the tragedy at the airport in the US city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Their mother, Jiterria Lightner, 25, wasn't seen for the entire hour of the footage captured near a baggage claim, say police, who have charged her with three counts of child abuse.

Jaiden was carried to the top of the escalator with his sister and then fell to his death on September 25 this year.

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Footage shows Jaiden's sister grab on to the hand rail of the escalator and begin to ascend.

She picks Jaiden up and the siblings continue to travel upwards.

Jaiden eventually lost his grip and fell.

His sister was caught by a man who saw the children and ran over to help.

Jaiden was in a "large pool of blood" after the fall and was taken to hospital, where he died three days later of catastrophic injuries, according to police.

Their mum claims she was sitting 15ft away fro the escalator and arranging a ride to take the family home following a flight from Florida.

But police say the children weren't being supervised.

An airport worker wrote in a report afterwards that he saw Jaiden suffer "major trauma to the head", ABC News reported.

The worker called for a medic as "frantic" passengers gathered and asked him to "do something".

Lightner's solicitor, Michael Greene, told Channel 9 News: "They (the children) were between the stairs and the escalators when he was carried up on his arm up the escalator.

"It appears that he was trying to reach over to grab the stair railing and when he tried to grab the railing, that's when he took the unfortunate fall."

He added: "(They) went from saying this is an accident, now saying that you've committed a crime."

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