Girl, four, accidentally hangs herself on bouncy castle after amusement park workers were distracted by smartphones
19 May 2023, 12:55 | Updated: 19 May 2023, 12:58
A four-year-old girl has died after suffocating while playing on a bouncy castle - despite three members of amusement park staff being in attendance.
The girl named Valeria became accidentally tangled in the inflatable's ropes while at the play spot, as staff members stood preoccupied with their smartphones, it's claimed.
The incident, which occurred last weekend in Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine, saw Valeria's mother alerted to the issue when she noticed her daughter was no longer laughing.
An assistant working on the bouncy castle then found the young girl caught in the ties.
Despite attempts to resuscitate the child, she was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Ukrainian Police have said the 45-year-old owner of the bouncy castle was arrested following the incident and could face up to eight years in prison if convicted.
Witnesses are said to have attempted to initially wake the child using ammonia, but to no avail.
One person is reported to have called the police, while another started chest compressions and began resuscitation attempts.
"At first Anna [the girl's mother] thought that Valeria had lost consciousness while playing in the heat and tried to wake her up," said family friend Natalia Kuchynska.
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"They examined the child, tried to wake her up with ammonia, and shone a light into her eyes. When the ambulance arrived, paramedics pronounced Valeria dead."
The girl's funeral is said to have taken place on Wednesday.
Sergiy Shaikhet, the chief of police for Mykolaiv Oblast region, said: 'It was preliminarily established that a four-year-old girl got entangled in the loops on the wall of a bouncy castle while playing on it.
"According to preliminary findings of experts, the child died as a result of suffocation."
