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A 10-year-old boy was seriously injured following a major fall while climbing a wall at an indoor adventure park in Muscat on Thursday.
"The child had a fall while climbing at Bounce Oman indoor adventure park in the Governorate of Muscat on Thursday. He suffered serious multiple injuries and was transferred to the hospital for treatment,” an official at Royal Oman Police told the Observer.
Bounce Oman said it was closing the operations with immediate effect for an independent safety review.
According to sources, the child was immediately rushed to the Al Khoula hospital in an ambulance.
“The condition of the child is said to be critical. He is in intensive care. Doctors are expected to decide on a possible surgery after 48 hours”, the sources said.
Following the incident, there has been a strong public outcry as people called for immediate measures to avoid such incidents at amusement and adventure parks in the country.
"A proper audit of safety measures and regular inspections should be conducted at such places, just like in many foreign countries," said a parent in a social media post.
Bader, who recently visited one of such adventure parks, said, "Regardless of the assurances made by the employees, we should make sure that our children have the confidence to undertake such tasks. We should not force them into an activity if they are not mentally prepared."
There has been a unanimous demand over the last two days by the authorities to undertake detailed investigations.
The outcry was evident even as Bounce Oman made an official statement on Saturday, confirming that a young boy was seriously injured at our Oman venue whilst using the climbing area on Thursday, September 12.
While expressing sorrow over the incident, the statement said, “We are now doing everything within our power to make sure that we fully understand how the accident happened, and how we can prevent further such accidents.
“As of now, we have no update that we can share regarding his condition and want to respect the family’s privacy at this difficult time. We have to ensure the safety of all customers, especially children within our venue, and this is a responsibility that we take incredibly seriously”, the statement said.
“Following the findings from our initial investigations, we can confirm that all equipment was functioning correctly, however at this stage we cannot rule out inadvertent human error by an employee, for this, we are deeply sorry.”
“As a result of these findings. we have decided to close the venue with immediate effect for a period of two to three days to ensure all team members are retrained on their duties and obligations, and all facts about the incident are established. This will also allow us to have an independent review conducted.
“While we cannot change the situation, we can make sure that we always adhere to strict safety measures and are taking serious steps to reaffirm the safety procedures with all members of the team.”
Bounce Oman said it will be approaching the relevant authorities to ensure they are confident with the action taken and will work closely with them.
“We know there will be many concerned parents out there, and as parents ourselves, we want you to know that the safety of our visitors is our number one priority and if anyone has any questions or concerns, we would urge them to reach out to us on,” the statement added.
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