Durban - A fun-filled day at the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg ended tragically on Thursday afternoon when a five-year-old boy died in an accident on one of the rides.
Simphiwe Mbense was seated in one of the cars on the music-box ride when he apparently stood up and was hit by another car.
The cars go up and down while simultaneously moving in a circle. A bar is locked over the rider’s lap to keep him in place, but, it seems, the boy might have wriggled out of it.
The operator immediately stopped the ride when he saw the child hanging from his seat.
Police spokeswoman Joey Jeevan said that the boy was taken to the nearby emergency services facility where he received immediate treatment and CPR.
He died soon afterwards. It is believed he sustained head injuries.
The Grade 1 pupil from the Noshezi Primary School in Sinathing, Pietermaritzburg, went to the show on a school excursion.
His mother, Mpumelelo, who arrived at the Royal Showgrounds after being contacted, was inconsolable.
When The Mercury spoke to her she was being comforted by policewoman Nomathemba Ngubeni.
She said it had been the first time her son had been to the show and, when he heard about the excursion, he was excited and happy.
A relative present said the little boy was familiar with rides as he had been on some at the funfair at the Liberty Midlands Mall.
The child’s father, Sibusiso, was in shock and could not believe his son was dead.
“He wanted so much to go and play. He could not wait.”
Schoolteachers declined to comment.
Royal Show chief executive Terry Strachan said the show required that there be one teacher for every 20 children visiting.
“Teachers do not pay because the youngsters need to be taken care off and accompanied.”
He said the ride had a height restriction and Mbense had met it.
Strachan said that each ride had safety certificates and that a “cursory inspection revealed that there was nothing wrong with the ride”.
It was the first death on a ride in the history of the show, he said, adding
the ride had been cordoned off until officials inspected it today.
The ride operator was receiving counselling.
A witness said that the operator was “completely shocked”. After the tragedy he did not know what to do and started wiping the boy’s blood from the seat.
Education Department spokesman Sihle Mlothswa said an investigation would be conducted into the incident to determine if the children were properly supervised and if the school excursion policy had been followed.
He expressed his condolences to the family of the child, the teachers and pupils.
Jeevan said an inquest had been opened and police were investigating the circumstances of the incident.
The Mercury