28 Children Injured In Siam Park Water Slide Accident

[george]

CHILDRENS DAY:

28 hurt in Siam Park Children's Day calamity

BANGKOK: -- Twenty-eight children were injured--four critically--when part of an elevated amusement park watercourse collapsed Saturday at Siam Park in suburban Bangkok.

The 10-to 12-year-old riders were being treated at a local hospital.

The "Super Spiral" waterslide accident occurred during Children's Day when joints holding segments of the popular ride collapsed.

Seven young riders fell through the damaged slide, according to company executive.

It is the second time in less than four months that the amusement park has experienced significant safety failures.

Siam Park managing director Wuthichai Luengamornlert said the "Super Spiral," a water slide three-stories high, had broken at the 2.5 metre level and that in addition aged 10-12 riding from the top of the water channel fell from the broken joint.

Most of the 28 injured childred suffered head injuries, with some broken limbs and bruises.

Four children remain in critical condition.

Mr. Wuthichai said Siam Park accepts responsibility for the accident and pledged to cover all treatment expenses.

Siam Park staff drained the water from the ride to facilitate a police investigation to inspect and determine the cause of the accident, he said.

The Super Spiral was installed and in service for some 20 years, he said, adding that the Siam Park bought it from a company in Canada.

Mr. Wuthichai said he believed that the Super Spiral was up to standard and has a 30 year life, but further investigation is needed to find the cause of the breakage.

In October last year, Siam Park hit headlines when a 35-year-old Thai woman died and five others were injured when a ride called the Indiana Log malfunctioned.

-- TNA 2008-01-12

[sriracha john]

Same Park, Different Ride, Similar Result...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...=149731&hl=

One Killed, Five Injured In Siam Park Flume Ride Mishap

*edit*

BTW, have ridden both...

Edited January 12, 2008 by sriracha john

[Master Chief]

I have complained earlier here at this forum about the bad state the amusement parks have in Thailand, and this news is so sad to read. Children getting hurt! My children where asked a couple of years ago to join their school for an trip to the Siam Park, I refused to let them join and got soure comments from the other childrens parent for that.

I can only say, for other parent to not let your kids ride hazardous fun park rides, they are just not up to safe standards.

[john b good]

Very, very sad.

However not unexpected as there are no recognised safety standards here in Thailand and even where there is some standards 'of sorts' they are not enforced.

It reminds me of the movie theatres in Bangkok that were ordered closed because they did not meet fire safety regulations.

The owners kept them open and paid the Baht 50.00 daily fine.

Purely and simply nothing short of a joke, albeit a very sad joke. TIT

[Jockstar]

When i worked in Thailand. Every Summer Camp we would take the kids there. The safety was very much lacking. I would go down the slide with the kids , just for their safety. Sad to hear about this. Thankfully no one was killed.

[DerringDo]

Thank goodness mine weren't there.

When will someone go to jail for negligence. Safety standards are a joke in this park.

[astral]

The Super Spiral was installed and in service for some 20 years, he said,

adding that the Siam Park bought it from a company in Canada.

Mr. Wuthichai said he believed that the Super Spiral was up to standard and has a 30 year life..........

Ah yes, shift the blame to the manufacturer...............

A 30 year life span does not mean "maintenance free".

With any structure, it needs regular inspection and repaired where necessary??

Mind you, the dangers are not limited to Thailand.

http://www.article2.net/law/amusement-park...r-vacation.html

[Galong]

"...adding that the Siam Park bought it from a company in Canada."

Expect it to be Canada's fault.

[BigSnake]

On children day, what timing of all days. However the status quo will kick in now, the outcry for a few days and all will go away. So sad but true.

I hope they all get back to normal soon.

[joskydive]

Most of the 28 injured childred suffered head injuries, with some broken limbs and bruises.

Four children remain in critical condition.

Mr. Wuthichai said Siam Park accepts responsibility for the accident and pledged to cover all treatment expenses.

Does he think that should be the end of it by just covering all the treatment expenses??

[MrSquigle]

Just looking at the rust on those slides support structures and you could tell it was an accidnet waiting to happen one day.

Sadly my theory proved right....I figured it will fail one day and that day will be when it is very busy, heavy load of kids and that extra stress just pushes it to far. I never went there on busy days, always tried to go on weekdays when not crowded.

Sad it happened on childrens day and that park ownership should get a little jittery from now on.

[Brewsta]

Sun rises...... negligence causes death in LoS...... Sun sets.....

TIT

[torrenova]

Presumably the owner will offer those injured Bt10000 (sorry, that is only for death) but perhaps they will get the free lifetime pass to come back and try to kill themselves once more.

It should be shut down and he should be locked up and the key thrown away.

[Yatsam]

Just feel so sorry about this news especially today is the Thai Children Day.

Very, very sad.

However not unexpected as there are no recognised safety standards here in Thailand and even where there is some standards 'of sorts' they are not enforced.

It reminds me of the movie theatres in Bangkok that were ordered closed because they did not meet fire safety regulations.

The owners kept them open and paid the Baht 50.00 daily fine.

Purely and simply nothing short of a joke, albeit a very sad joke. TIT

[brahmburgers]

Thailand could use a few thousand graduates from the Ralph Nader School of Scrutiny.

Trouble is, even if flaws were found, such as rusting superstructure and such, the authorities would give it a quick 'mai pen rai' and go on as usual.

just a few things I've noticed in little ol' Chiang Rai:

> A Nurses Aide college has a single concrete beam holding up the middle of a large cement floor. It's a heavy beam, about 8 meters meters long, with no supporting posts other than at its ends.

> same nursing college has a parking area with a 2.5 meter straight down drop on one side, not even a curb along the 4 meter edge. It's a situation just aching for an accident.

I mentioned these two items to the management, and they just smiled and waved my concerns away. I was a gen.contrator in California, but so what, that's a world away for land of 'mai pen rai.' Maybe gravity works differently here.

A four story hotel next to a dept store that burned down last year, has its fire escape stairs locked with padlocks. The list could go on and on.

[brahmburgers]

plus a note regarding the dozens of concrete structures which were built (to carry a rapid transit line?) out to Don Muang airport area:

Supposing the line gets finished some day, that won't change the fact that masses of exposed rebar have been out in the elements for many years, and are visibly rusting.

Same goes for the thousands of half finished concrete structures throughout Thailand - though most of those jobs will never resume, and the pillars and beams will slowly crumble over the centuries.

However, for the rebar to keep its strength, it might be good to consider the following:

Brush off (or sand blast) the existing layer of rust, and slap some high quality paint on the exposed rebar. Sure it's easier said than done, but the longer the rebar is left to rust in the rain, the less viable the sructure will be if it ever becomes fundtional.

[MEGALITHIC]

Presumably the owner will offer those injured Bt10000 (sorry, that is only for death) but perhaps they will get the free lifetime pass to come back and try to kill themselves once more.

It should be shut down and he should be locked up and the key thrown away.

To avoid the risk of being deleted by the moderator for submitting an "Anti-Thailand rant, I'll try to make this submission of constructive criticism.

In the the 15 years that I've lived here there have been that many calamities involving machinary, vessels, structures and equipment, where there was loss of life, that if you kept a list, it would be as long as your arm.

There's been ferries' that have capsized - to numerous to count - that were overloaded and probably had insufficient life jackets. There was a hotel that caught fire and the fire escape exit was locked - the result being that a number of tourists were burnt to death. I remember back in the nineties there was a spate of construction cranes falling over. The list of negligence could just go on and on. Safety is a cultural mindset. In the west, operations or organisations, accept that they have a duty of care to protect their employees, customers or clientelle, and make every effort to do so. Granted that HSE laws in the western world have real teeth but there is also an underlying mindset which doesn't exist to any degree in this country unfortunately - it's called being held accountable, or responsible, for your actions.

The underlying cause of what happened at Siam water park was more than likely simply having no PMS (planned maintenance system) in place. In other words, no periodic inspections of the equipment were probably ever done to identify faults or weaknesses in the structure. That comes down to a management responsibility - something which takes foresight, planning and BRAINS. Until people in positions of leadership/management, in Thailand, accept that they have to put safety before profit, nothing will ever change.

[Tony Clifton]

Below this comment is quoted what I posted when the last accident happened, a few weeks after I visited.

I thought the stairs leading up to the water slides would be the first thing to collapse.

Doesn't take a qualified inspector to see the place needs to be shut down and inspected by a qualified team, maybe even foreigners with no influence from local people imposed upon the inspection.

Sad that it happened on children's day, but a reminder that people responsible for maintenance, safety and enforcing regulations are no more than little children themselves.

When my wife mentioned that it was children's day this morning, I said sadly that I was wondering how many would get killed on the roads on this single crazy day...

Went there a few weeks ago and although I'm no safety inspector, I noticed an obvious and dangerous lack of maintenance in two places.

Water slides:

First time up, I immediately pointed to a friend how dangerous this structure is after the first 10 steps.

Free standing stairs take you up 4 or 5 stories high, maybe more, up to two water slides on each side at the top.

These free standing stairs are made of concrete supported by a metal frame which looks like it was painted once, at construction.

Constantly exposed to water dripping off swimmers, most of the frame is rusted way beyond what would be acceptable in most western countries. You can actually see large gaping holes in most of the railing going all the way up, the bottom metal frame holding the concrete slabs is flaking out badly. I saw sharp edges and openings on the railings that could cut skin. That structure has lost a lot of it's original strength and is constantly under stress while about a 100 people or so climb up the stairs, you can actually feel it bouncing up and down. Nothing a fresh coat of paint can fix here. Went up twice but the second time up convinced me that structure is nothing but an accident waiting to happen.

Flowing circular pool :

There's a circular pool where you can let the current carry you all the way around. Many small bridges allow people to cross over to the middle to the small island. While drifting, I looked under each and every bridge, all metal supports on every bridge are badly rusted. Again, nothing a coat of fresh paint can fix here. Some of the beams are so rusted you can pick large metal flakes off, some beams while others have gaping holes from one end to the other where the welds used to be.

I guess that will only be fixed once something happens.

Bangkok Governor Apirak himself and his team of inspectors have some serious questions to answer after deaclaring he would get a team of inspectors to the park following the last woman's death a few months ago.

Edited January 12, 2008 by Tony Clifton

[siamesekitty]

I watched it on the Thai news this evening. There was a live telephone interview with the Assistant Manager. Sadly, I did not hear an apology. Of course, I could have missed it, as I was walking in and out of the room as the interview was going on. However, her tone from the very beginning was simply efficient and professional, no apologetic tone or sad feel to it, which irked me somewhat.

As for the content, it was mostly factual, and although she stated the park would assume responsibility for all medical expenses, most of what she said in response to the interviewer's questions was very plain, generic standard practice stuff. No straight, satisfying, take-initiative answers. It was as if she was talking about a rather normal incident rather than a shocking, tragic event. I don't know how to explain the way she talked, it was like consultant BS-style speech or something, I found myself tuning out because the words had no real meaning.

Edited January 12, 2008 by siamesekitty

[KireB]

You guys should go to the Samut Prakarn Crocodile Farm. A wooden footbridge, definitely needing some maintenance, leads you over a pond with hundreds of enormous crocs. Disaster awaiting!

[maxpower]

The Super Spiral was installed and in service for some 20 years, he said,

adding that the Siam Park bought it from a company in Canada.

Mr. Wuthichai said he believed that the Super Spiral was up to standard and has a 30 year life..........

Ah yes, shift the blame to the manufacturer...............

A 30 year life span does not mean "maintenance free".

With any structure, it needs regular inspection and repaired where necessary??

Mind you, the dangers are not limited to Thailand.

http://www.article2.net/law/amusement-park...r-vacation.html

Correct.

Water slides are often manufactured in short sections bolted together on site. Routine inspection of the flume joints, material and supports is very important.

Lots of leaking joints on a waterslide is one indication that owners are not following the routine maintenance program correctly.

[Dakhar]

It's a plot formed by Canadians!

[chignikreds2]

I spent twenty years in Thailand and there was always some tragic happenings because of nonsafety inspections and plain old human stupidity. I finally had the good sense to get my daughter out of Thailand and back to a more safer enviroment . I miss Thailand and the people but not the moronic happenings and do have more peace of mind here in my home country.

[CL0R0X]

520 User(s) are reading this topic (334 Guests and 2 Anonymous Users),

damnn!

[Tony Clifton]

Tony Jr. is one day old today

He sleeps soundly right now in a warm incubator and has no idea of the easily preventable carnage going on all over this country.

The decision to leave this place was taken the very same day the pregnancy test proved positive.

[Lilawadee]

When will someone go to jail for negligence. Safety standards are a joke in this park.

Safety standards are a joke in this country

[Lilawadee]

Tony Jr. is one day old today. He sleeps soundly right now in a warm incubator and has no idea of the easily preventable carnage going on all over this country. The decision to leave this place was taken the very same day the pregnancy test proved positive.

A brave decision, but I think indeed the right one.

(The only other option is to have loads of kids, similar to the way certain animals that are lower down the food chain survive by having a lot of offspring.. In Thailand, kids ARE lower down in the food chain, because greed, 'face', corruption and stupidity rank higher.

[thaigene2]

I have complained earlier here at this forum about the bad state the amusement parks have in Thailand, and this news is so sad to read. Children getting hurt! My children where asked a couple of years ago to join their school for an trip to the Siam Park, I refused to let them join and got soure comments from the other childrens parent for that. I can only say, for other parent to not let your kids ride hazardous fun park rides, they are just not up to safe standards.

I'm sure the irony of the fact that it's Children's Day hasn't been lost on any of us. The other irony is that few families (others than those involved in this tragedy) will complain. There will be no hue and cry for closing the place, like there would be in most of our home countries (since this is the second or third accident of its kind). And so - just like last time - that's why it will stay open, and it will happen again - maybe worse next time.

It's a group mentality thing. The parents who dissed you, Master Chief, did so because you dared to be different. As someone else here said in another forum, the nail that sticks up in Thailand gets hammered down. Society here is robotic. It's nice, in a robotic kind of way, and makes it easy to live here. But you always need to keep reminding yourself, if I maybe excused for using a Hollywood cliche, that you have one foot in Stepford and the other in Amittyville.

Edited January 12, 2008 by thaigene2

[thaigene2]

Tony Jr. is one day old today

He sleeps soundly right now in a warm incubator and has no idea of the easily preventable carnage going on all over this country.

The decision to leave this place was taken the very same day the pregnancy test proved positive.

Hey - congratulations! Best of luck.

[marc288888]

anything that involves saftey in thailand is a no no i would never let my kid go on anything like this not in thailand anyway .