Florida boy, 13, dies on water slide after collar snags on bolt

At Shenandoah Park in Florida, 13-year-old Alvin Valdares died on a children’s slide: the collar of his shirt caught on a loose bolt, and the boy was pinned by the neck. The tragedy happened on the first day of October, and a week later doctors announced that he was brain-dead.

Alvin should have been at school that day, but he rode to the park on a scooter. He was found in the slide’s chute by a man who was there walking with his children. To pull the teenager free, the man had to yank hard several times. There are bolts along the entire length of the slide, and one of them turned out to be loose.

“Alvin’s arm was under his shirt, and the collar was squeezing his neck,” the boy’s mother, Estefania, told a local TV station. The man called rescuers, who took the child to hospital, where he was put on life support in intensive care. He never regained consciousness.

“He was my youngest, only 13. He had his whole life ahead of him. He just wanted to play, but sadly he lost his life while playing,” said his grief-stricken mother.

Officials closed the entire park immediately, but reopened it the next day, and the slide was operating again. Whether the bolt had been fixed by then is unknown, US media report. The family has started an online fundraiser to cover the funeral. The mother appealed to other parents: “Be careful when you take your children to parks like these. Look at the tragedy that happened to my son.”

Source: novinky.cz