A tragic incident occurred when a toddler reportedly “slipped” from her father’s arms while they were going down a slide at a waterpark, resulting in her death, reports The Mirror.
The 21-month-old child, a German national, was airlifted to a hospital, but despite all medical efforts, she died due to severe brain trauma and internal injuries.
The accident took place at the Aquagan waterpark in Lopar, Croatia, where the girl is believed to have fallen from her father’s grasp and dropped from a height of roughly three and a half meters onto a concrete surface, reports The Mirror.
Witnesses informed local media that they heard an uproar at the park, prompting staff and emergency responders to rush to a specific area of the attraction.
The Mayor of Lopar described the town as being “extremely shaken” by the incident, which is thought to be the first serious accident at the waterpark in two decades, reports The Mirror.
One eyewitness spoke following Tuesday afternoon’s incident, saying: “The waiter had just brought me coffee. When we heard crying and shouting, we thought the child had drowned. Then we saw a man carrying the child on the side. A doctor from Slovenia happened to be there and immediately came to help.”
Reports from the Mirror say that CPR was administered for several minutes before the young girl was swiftly transported via helicopter to Rijeka Hospital, reports The Mirror.
The child was transferred to the Rijeka Hospital Clinical Centre, which released the following statement today: “Despite prompt care, multiple interventions and intensive treatment, the child died in the morning hours.”
Lopar’s Mayor, Zdenko Jakuc, stated: “It is an understatement to say that we are all extremely shaken. When the helicopter landed, everything stopped. We all looked at the sky and hoped for the best,” reports The Mirror.
A representative of the Lopar tourist board said: “This park has been operating for years, nothing like this has ever been recorded. Lopar is a place that is perceived as safe, peaceful, and ideal for families with small children.”
In a separate incident, a group of students at Waterworld USA in Concord, California, climbed onto the 40ft-high Banzai Pipeline slide when a portion of the slide gave way, sending them hurtling to the ground, reports The Mirror.
Justin Aaron, an English teacher who was grading papers at the base of the slide during the accident, recalled: “I looked up and saw bodies flying through the air. They were landing in trees, on rocks and on the concrete…It was like it was happening in slow motion.”
As the structure gave out under a weight nearly three times its intended limit, several students clustered together were the first to fall, with others crashing into support beams before hitting the ground or colliding with fellow students, reports The Mirror.
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