Wu Ya-wen (吳雅雯), a 17-year-old nursing student, died after riding a roller coaster on Friday last week, and her family is blaming the amusement park for not administering proper medical care in time.
Wu, from Yilan County, collapsed after 90 seconds on the “Screaming Corridor,” which she rode with an 11-year-old cousin while other family members looked on at Leofoo Water Park in Hsinchu County.
Her cousin alerted workers at the park after realizing Wu was motionless. The workers called on-site medical personnel and an ambulance. Wu died 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital.
Shortly afterward, questions were raised about the first aid provided at the scene.
The park said that its staff followed standard procedures and efforts to resuscitate the girl were “continuous without any pause.”
Wu’s uncle, surnamed Lin (林), said the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) given to the girl was not done properly because vomit was found in her mouth when she was being rushed to the hospital.
Lin said he knew how to perform CPR, but park staff prevented him from helping his niece, adding that she appeared to want to throw up after being helped off the ride and should have been kept in an upright position instead of being allowed to lie on her back.
Other relatives said that she had been in good health without any serious illness.
An initial examination by a public prosecutor was not able to determine the cause of her death, so an autopsy will be performed.
Leofoo Water Park public affairs manager Wang Yung-hao (王永豪) said that workers at the scene found Wu conscious, but sitting on the ride’s platform accompanied by her cousin. Within a minute, she fainted and her heart stopped beating.
Staff members who are certified first aid providers tried to resuscitate Wu and a nurse took over within minutes, Wang said.
Ten to 20 minutes later, an ambulance left the amusement park carrying the girl to a military hospital a few kilometers away.
The park said it will increase the visibility of warnings about those who should not go on white-knuckle rides, such as individuals with heart disease or hypertension, adding that staff operating the rides will be trained to help identify visitors who probably should not get on such rides.
This is the second incident involving the Swiss-made roller coaster since it started operating 12 years ago. In August 2011, a 21-year-old female college student went into cardiac arrest while on the ride and remains in a coma.
The U-shaped suspension Screaming Corridor is the only one of its kind in Asia. With a track that is only 190m long, the roller coaster reaches speeds of 122kph when it rushes down its biggest drop of 56m.
The 90-second ride incorporates 360o spiral acceleration followed by a vertical drop.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS