A five-year-old boy has been injured after falling off a water slide at a US amusement park, the park said.
The child was riding in a double tube at the Lake Winnepesaukah amusement park, in the state of Georgia, when he was injured, a park spokesman told Fox News Digital.
He fell 1.5 – 6 metres from the slide, John Pless, a spokesman for Catoosa County, where the park is located, told Fox News Digital.
A parkgoer told Nashville TV station Fox17-WZTV that she saw the boy “fly out” of the green and yellow water slide. Another witness, Ginger Bence, said she heard several employees blow whistles, which she assumed was part of a safety protocol when someone is hurt, according to the news outlet.
“I don’t think I’ll ever forget it,” Ms Bence said. “I thought ‘Is he alive?’”
Teh incident occurred on Tuesday but has just come to light.
The child was treated at the scene and taken to the Children’s Hospital at Erlanger in Chattanooga, Tennessee, said Mr Pless. He said the condition and extent of injuries to the child was unknown.
The Georgia Office of Commissioner of Insurance and Safety Fire said that it was called to investigate the water ride.
“We have an inspector on the scene there today, but it is too early in our investigation to release any preliminary findings,” an agency spokesman said on Thursday.
The park told Fox News Digital that state inspectors looked at the Twist-N-Shout water ride, including the rider tubes, the ride foundation, and signage and reopened it.
“Lake Winnepesaukah is a family amusement park that prides itself on a safe, welcome atmosphere,” the park said.
Last year, teenager Tyre Sampson died when he fell 50m from the Orlando Free-Fall ride at ICON Park in Florida.
A disturbing video of the tragic incident was taken by a bystander and shared on social media.
The footage then shows Sampson — who was visiting from Missouri with a friend’s family — fall from his seat when the ride was about halfway down its 122-metre descent.
Horrified witnesses and those still on the ride can be heard screaming after the ride came to a stop, while the teen’s motionless body lay at their feet.
“Oh my God!” screamed one woman. “Oh my God! He just fell! Oh my God!”
Another frenzied woman can be seen asking staffers if they had secured the boy’s safety harness before the ride, repeatedly asking, “Are you sure you checked him?”
Other workers can be seen covering their mouths in paralysed disbelief while bystanders hurried their traumatised kids away from the scene.
Meanwhile, riders can be heard yelling at workers to unlock their harnesses.
This story appeared on Fox News and is reproduced with permission.
