A civil engineer and the manager of a water park have been charged with manslaughter after an eight-year-old boy died when he fell nearly 50 feet from a waterslide that was being dismantled in Brazil’s Caldas Novas
A civil engineer and a water park manager are charged with manslaughter after an eight-year-old boy died after falling nearly 50 feet from a dismantled waterslide.
New reports indicate that the fencing demarcating the slide, which is under repair, has been removed by order of the manager.
The case arose in February last year (2022), when little Davi Lucas de Miranda entered the slide at the diRoma Acqua Park in Caldas Novas, Brazil.
Not realizing it had been partially dismantled for maintenance, it plummeted 13.8 meters before hitting the ride’s wood and metal structure.
He then rolled into a 70-centimetre (28 in) deep pool.
He was rescued alive, but later died in hospital.
The ride was originally cordoned off with gates at the base of the stairs leading to the platform.
But an investigation revealed that it was removed at the behest of the manager, after more fences were put up around the area around the attraction.
Had the original fencing not been removed, little Davi would not have been able to access the ride, the civil police investigation into the matter concluded.
Only one of the ride’s four tubes was closed off, investigators say, and the victim fell into one of the open tubes, which had part of its siding missing.
The civil police have named the civil engineer in charge of the repair work as Flavio Tomaz de Aquino Musse and the manager of the water park as Cristiano Vilela Reis.
The victim’s relatives have not filed a police report as they are currently negotiating with the water park management.
The investigation report states: “It is possible to see the manager’s reckless behavior as the investigation has shown that he ordered the fence to be placed at the Volcano ride, more specifically at the base of the stairs leading to the platform where the water slides started, which was built as ordered.
“But later, when the fencing was placed in an outlying area, the manager decided that the barrier on the stairs had to be removed.
“If he hadn’t acted like that, David Lucas de Miranda certainly couldn’t have climbed to the waterslide from which he fell.”
Police Chief Rodrigo Pereira added that the two suspects breached their duty of care by not assigning employees to guard the premises during opening hours.
The maintenance company and Reis had not yet commented at the time of reporting.