Six-Year-Old Sustains "Life-Changing" Injuries at Theme Park, Family Files Lawsuit

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Six-Year-Old Sustains “Life-Changing” Injuries at Theme Park, Family Files Lawsuit

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Posted on August 23, 2022 by Luke Dammann

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Shrek Attraction in DreamWorld Australia

Credit: DreamWorld

A new lawsuit has just been filed after a family’s 6-year-old boy was injured at a major theme park.

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The original incident occurred on June 11 while the family in question was visiting DreamWorld, a popular theme park located in Australia. Their son, who is unnamed in the lawsuit, was reportedly playing on a stationary train attraction. After some time of playing, the boy fell nearly 7 feet onto the hard concrete.

This fall caused the boy to break his arm in multiple places. The injuries to his arm are so bad that they reportedly may never heal. A photo of the train that the boy was playing on can be seen below:

Per the Park’s website, Dreamworld is Australia’s favorite theme park, with rides, slides, and wildlife all in one place on the Gold Coast, Australia’s playground. The Park hosts around one million visitors each year with a staff of more than 1200, including ride operators, lifeguards, engineers, entertainers, animal carers, and many more.

Dreamworld is also a wildlife conservation park and the most significant zoological contributor to tiger conservation worldwide. The Park states it proudly helps support the protection and conservation of Tigers, Koalas, Bilbies, Tree Kangaroos, and more.

Dreamworld mascots at the park's entrance — Credit: Dreamworld

However, there is a slight twist to this story, as footage later uploaded to YouTube shows “Do not climb” signs put in place around the static train, which you can even see in the photo shared earlier. The story gets complicated as the boy’s father insists that there was no signage or fencing indicating Guests should not be climbing.

“He slipped off the train, the surface was concrete, and he broke his humerus bone straight through,” Josh told the Courier Mail.

The gold coaster at dreamworld — Credit: Dreamworld

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According to reports, Doctors stated that the boy’s injuries are as bad as they come. “The doctor said to us, if he did to his head what he did to his arm, we wouldn’t be in this situation. It’s a horrible thing to say, but it would be another fatality,” Josh explained.

“We’re not talking about someone out for a big payday, this is a genuine case where a six-year-old has fallen,” said the family’s lawyer Vernesa Rogulja. “We don’t know what his recovery looks like yet.” Several steel rods were already inserted into his arm due to his injuries.

Koala interaction at dreamworld — Credit: Dreamworld

DreamWorld issued a statement, claiming that it “acknowledges the recent incident in which a child climbed onto a stationary children’s photo opportunity and subsequently fell from it, sustaining injury.”

A spokesperson for the park added: “Our thoughts remain with the child and his family, and we wish him a full and fast recovery.”

Have you visited this particular theme park?

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