Yikes, what a horrific accident! 🙁
Two people have reportedly been killed while 12 others were injured after falling off a slide at a theme park. This ride is dubbed “the world’s longest slide” and the fatal accident took place at about 5pm on Labour Day (1 May) at the Children’s Garden attraction in Taiping, Sichuan province in Southwest China. The park has since been closed for the time being, reported The Star.
The town government has also released a statement on social media saying that staff members and “the person responsible for the business” had been detained pending an investigation.
According to The Mirror, a total of 14 people – comprising eight adults and six children – were taking this ride and each of them were sitting on their own rubber rings. Tragedy struck when the rubber rings speeding down the 235-metre stainless steel slide crashed into one another, causing all the tourists to fall off.
One woman was there with her daughter when the accident occurred and she said that the ride might’ve been overcrowded. She was quoted by The Star as saying,
“I was on a rope bridge and saw four or five rubber lifebuoys with people on them all crowded together and sliding down.”
“The people were screaming, I’m not sure whether from fright or excitement, but within seconds they all flew off the slide,” she added.
She also said that it was raining on that day and since the ride goes down a steep hill, the tourists could’ve collided into each other as some of the rubber rings were travelling much faster than others.
All of them were then rushed to the hospital and two adults were confirmed to be dead. Meanwhile, the others who were injured (six adults and six children) are now receiving treatment at the hospital.
The cops have been in touch with the victims’ families as well and have vowed to ensure those responsible for the accident would be punished accordingly. We hope justice is served too!
On Thursday (2 May), the theme park had also posted a notice on WeChat saying that the park, which has 32 slides of different sizes, was closed for upgrading works; however, they did not mention anything about the accident. This post has since been deleted.
That’s a really scary thing to happen at a theme park! We hope security measures can be tightened for the safety of visitors so that this nightmare does not happen again.
Also read: These Photos of Genting Before the Theme Park was Demolished Will Give You So Much Feels