China Water Park Incident: Faulty Equipment Causes Man-made Tsunami

A freak accident at the Yulong Shuiyun Water Amusement Park in Longjing, China injured scores of tourists after authorities rule out faulty equipment for the mishap. Forty-four people were hurt and rushed to the hospital after a human-made tsunami swept through a giant pool in the resort.

According to a local government announcement, five people are still being treated in the hospital, but are in stable condition. Initial investigation has revealed that a power cut damaged electronic equipment in the wave pool control room, causing the man-made tsunami.

Yulong Shuiyun is temporarily closed down pending an ongoing probe. A video clip of the occurrence uploaded by a Beijing Times reveals the trashing, as people (including children) were overwhelmed by the unexpected torrent.

A worker at the theme park told the news outlet that an "accidental breakdown in machinery" caused the unfortunate situation. Weibo, a familiar social messaging platform in China, was flooded with rumors that the equipment was wrongly operated.

The water park is considered as the biggest of its kind in the Yanbian Korean prefecture in Jilin province. In May, two individuals died, and 12 were harmed after falling off a water slide at a theme park in Sichuan province.

Although rare, amusement park accidents have always raised questions about safety, especially for children. A decade ago, ten-year-old Caleb Schwab died after he was beheaded while riding the world's tallest waterslide at Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City.

In the same year, four-year-old Carlos Flores drowned at a brand new wave pool at the Great America amusement park despite the presence of six lifeguards in the vicinity.

A decade later another incident involved a 10-year-old boy after he was thrown out of a water slide at The Wave water park in Dublin, California. The young child landed on concrete and was rushed to a nearby treatment facility.

Yesterday Hersh Meilech Grossman, a 9-year-old boy from Brooklyn drowned at Sahara Sam's Oasis water park in New Jersey. The drowning happened during a class trip with the Belzer Talmud Torah.