Drayton Manor: 11-year-old girl dies after falling into water on theme park ride in Staffordshire

An 11-year-old girl on a school trip has died after falling in the water from a theme park ride.

The girl, who is from the Leicester area, fell from the Splash Canyon water ride at Tamworth-based Drayton Manor Theme Park on Tuesday afternoon.

It was then confirmed just before 6pm that the girl - a Year 6 pupil at Jameah Academy, an integrated Islamic day school - had died.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: "On arrival, crews discovered a girl with serious injuries who had been rescued from the water by park staff.

"Ambulance staff administered advanced life support before she was flown to Birmingham Children's Hospital with the doctor continuing treatment en-route.

"Unfortunately, shortly after arrival at hospital the girl passed away."

A publicity photograph of the Splash Canyon ride. The people in the picture were not involved in the incident
Drayton Park Manor

In a statement read outside the park, company director George Bryan said staff were "all truly shocked and devastated".

The theme park's website states the ride, which opened in 1993, features up to 21 boats, each with up to six people in.

It is open to anyone at least 0.9m (3ft) tall, although those under 1.1m must be accompanied by an adult.

The air ambulance at Drayton Park (David Charles/PA )
David Charles/PA

Police superintendent Carl Ratcliffe said: "Specially-trained officers are supporting the girl's family at this difficult time. Our thoughts are very much with her family and friends following this tragic incident."

The Health and Safety Executive is investigating and the ride was closed following the incident.

A visibly shaken Mr Byran said: "It is with great sadness we have to report that a young girl has passed away at Birmingham Children’s Hospital following an incident on one of the park’s water rides this afternoon.

The scene at Drayton Manor Park
Jade Braham/PA

“Our staff were alerted that an 11-year-old girl had entered the water. Trained park staff were immediately on the scene attending to the patient and West Midlands Air Ambulance arrived and airlifted her to the hospital.

"We are all truly shocked and devastated, and our thoughts are with the family and friends at this horrendously difficult time."

The park remained open until its usual closing time of 5pm, though new visitors were prevented from entering the park at about 4pm.

The theme park has announced it will close on Wednesday "as a mark of respect to the family".

Jameah Academy said in a statement that it was providing "support to pupils and staff" and asked for "time to grieve".

Cllr Philip Atkins, Staffordshire County Council leader, said: "It is absolutely sad and shocking news to hear how a day of adventure has ended in such tragedy for this young girl, and our thoughts are very much with her family and friends this evening."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in