Drayton Manor fined £1 million after death of 11-year-old girl from Leicester
Evha Jannath was "propelled" from a water rapids ride in May, 2017
Drayton Manor theme park's operators have been fined £1 million after safety failings which led to the death of an 11-year-old girl on its water rapids ride.
Evha Jannath was "propelled'' from a vessel on the Splash Canyon ride at Drayton Manor in Staffordshire.
She was on an end-of-year school trip with friends from Jameah Girls Academy in Leicester on May 9 2017.
Lawyers for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), bringing a prosecution against the park for not properly ensuring the safety of its guests, said the theme park's operators oversaw systemic failures of safety'' on the river rapids ride.
Drayton Manor had admitted breaching Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Sentencing Drayton Manor Theme Parks Ltd at Stafford Crown Court on Thursday, Mr Justice Spencer said: This was an utterly tragic waste of a young life.''
In a statement the Health and Safety Executive said: "An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the risk assessment in place was not suitable and sufficient as it did not properly assess or address the risk of passengers being ejected/falling from the raft, despite previous similar incidents.
"There were inadequate control measures in place to detect a person in the water as the CCTV covered only half the ride and the CCTV monitors were not suitable for observing passenger behaviour appropriately. In addition, there was no system at the park to rescue anyone who had fallen into the water."
Speaking after the hearing, HSE Principal Inspector Lyn Spooner said: “As a result of Drayton Manor’s failings 11-year-old Evha Jannath, died at the end of what should have been a fun day out.
“The risks from ejection from the raft had been evident to Drayton Manor for some time, yet they still failed to take the action that could have prevented Evha’s death.
“This tragic event should never have happened and my thoughts and the thoughts of HSE remain with Evha’s family and friends.”
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