A girl has died after being thrown out of a fast-spinning ride at an amusement park in Southwest China's Chongqing, sparking discussion about safety problems in the country's rapidly-expanding theme park industry.
The tragedy occurred on Friday at Chaohua Park in Fengdu county. A terrifying video shared online that shows 13-year-old Gan Tian being flung from the ride has made many Chinese netizens question if amusement parks should receive more safety checks from the authorities and be punished more severely if they fail to meet safety standards.
The video shows the girl slipping from her seat as the Top Spin-type ride turns riders upside down. She is then thrown to the ground after a second revolution while a crowd screams. Gan was taken to a local hospital but died on arrival, according to media reports.
The park has promised to pay compensation of 870,000 yuan ($126,774) to the girl's parents, who lost their only child, according to a report by The West China Metropolis Daily on Sunday.
According to a Sunday report on news site www.smxe.cn, the father of the deceased has accepted the offer of compensation.
An initial investigation showed the girl's seatbelt was broken and a passenger safety bar did not fit her tightly enough, announced the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ). Pictures circulating online showing the broken seatbelt have triggered public outcry, with many claiming the belt looks to be of poor quality.
The AQSIQ said it has asked has Chongqing government to suspend the operation of all Chaohua Park's amusement rides and to "eliminate hidden dangers."
It also ordered all amusement parks that use the same type of ride across the country to suspend operation and contact manufacturers for safety checks.
It is not known how many companies are using the same ride used in Chaohua Park, which is branded by its manufacturer, Chengdu Xinduxinan Amusement Ride Ltd, as the "Travel Through Space" ride. There are at least three amusement parks in East China's Jiangsu Province using the ride, according to a report by the Nanjing-based Modern Express newspaper.
The Chongqing ride passed a routine annual quality inspection in December, The West China Metropolis Daily reported Sunday. However, the report also pointed out that the relevant official websites show the latest inspection information dates back to 2013.
Chaohua Park's rules state that only those who are 12 years old and over are allowed to use the ride, but Gan's 9-year-old cousin was also on the ride and no adults were accompanying her when the tragedy occurred, pointing to the park's lax safety checks, according the The West China Metropolis Daily's report.
As online users debate whether the park's compensation is enough, most netizens have expressed their shock over the incident and swear they will never again go on such rides at amusement parks in China.
"Only 870,000 yuan for a girl's life? I wonder how much the amusement park makes every month. Perhaps that's why such things constantly happen here," commented an online user on Sina Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.
"I swear I will never ride a spinning ride or a roller coaster in those small amusement parks, " said another netizen, receiving over 1,000 likes.
Poor safety record
Such incidents have not been rare in recent years as amusement parks appear in cities across the country.
Three park visitors were injured after being thrown from a ride on September 15, 2013, in the Qingling Happy World amusement park in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. The incident was later found to be caused by operation errors by the park employees.
On April 6, 2015, Space UFO, a ride at a temple fun fair held in Xinxiang, Central China's Henan Province broke from its moorings and tossed out 19 people, one of whom suffered severe injuries.
A ride in Wenzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province claimed two lives and injured three others on May 1, 2015 due to a sudden malfunction.
Parks popping up
According to experts quoted in a 2014 Quartz report, there were more than 2,000 theme parks in China at that time, compared to just over 400 in the United States.
According to a 2016 South China Morning Post report, China is now building parks faster than any other country in the world. In 2015, 21 major theme parks opened in China, with another 20 parks now under construction.
