Something as fun as enjoying slides at a water park turned fatal for a toddler at Aquagan Lopar in Croatia after she slipped away from her father’s hands while going down a slide.
The 21-month-old German girl fell from a height of 11 feet and 5 inches and hit a concrete surface while going down a slide with her father on the afternoon of July 22, as published by People.
The girl was airlifted to Rijeka Clinical Hospital, where she succumbed to her internal injuries, according to The Independent.
As the child was taken to the hospital, her father was quoted telling the local media, “Don’t ask me anything… my daughter is dying!”
A spokesperson from the hospital said, “Despite prompt care, multiple interventions and intensive treatment, the child died in the morning hours.”
The head of the hospital’s paediatric clinic, Dr Iva Bilić Čače, said, “Numerous serious bodily injuries, including injuries to the brain and internal organs, have been verified.”
After the toddler fell, “crying and shouting” were heard as a Slovenian doctor rushed to her side to perform CPR.
“The waiter had just brought me coffee. When we heard crying and shouting, we thought the child had drowned,” a witness told the local media.
In the decades-long history of the water park, this incident is a first and the most ‘tragic’.
“I wasn’t here when it happened and what can I tell you. It’s a tragedy for us, for the family, for everyone,”Josip Ivanić, owner of the waterpark, told JutarnjiLIST.
Mayor Zdenko expressed his grief over the child’s demise and said, “It’s 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. Lopar has always been a family destination, we are safe, adapted to children, but a tragedy like this is unforgettable.”
While many tourists believe Lopar to be a safe place, tragedies like these come unannounced.
Police investigations are currently underway.