After dangling by his neck from a rope ladder inside an amusement park, an 8-year-old child was taken to the hospital.
Around 1.10 pm on Saturday, the ostensibly strange tragedy happened inside the King of Prussia retail center’s Thrillz High Flying Adventure Park.
The child, according to Upper Merion police, was climbing a rope ladder when he became caught in it, hanging by his neck.
NBC 10 quoted Thrillz owner Lisa Cannon as saying, “Following our investigation and examining video footage of today’s tragedy, we can say that the youngster was spotted descending headfirst down a rope ladder and became hooked.”
The boy became unconscious. He was rescued from the rope by two off-duty police officers. Thrillz employees performed CPR on him at the scene.
‘Within 10 seconds, our safety monitors formed a response team along with off-duty police officers and a nurse who was also on site,’ said Cannon.
‘Our staff followed protocol and communicated via our internal radio system to our CPR and First Aid certified team members.’
The boy later regained consciousness and was speaking with first responders. He was transported to Paoli Hospital.
Elizabeth O’Reilly, who was at the amusement park, said her son and nephew who also witnessed the incident ‘were really upset’ and ‘just wanted to go’.
‘I mean my son was on the verge of tears,’ O’Reilly told the TV station. ‘A lot of children were crying. A lot of adults were crying.’
Investigators ruled the incident accidental. The boy’s family was with him when he became entangled.
‘We are thankful to the KOP community for helping us respond in an effective and expeditious manner. We are told by police that the boy is okay and the injury is not serious,’ Cannon said. ‘Our thoughts are with the family and we will be contacting them soon.’
Thrillz has another location in Connecticut which has an obstacle course similar to one in the TV show Wipeout. Videos of TikTok users playing at the park have garnered millions of views.
The amusement park’s Pennsylvania location opened earlier this month.