A trip down a slide in Art-Zoo Inflatable Park leaves 3-year-old girl with broken arm

The third edition of Art-Zoo Inflatable Park was held from March 9 to April 1 this year.

Art-Zoo featured 15 bouncy castles, including Magical Rainbow, a cluster that features a 19m-tall unicorn and six rainbow slides.

Being the only slide in the Art-Zoo, the Magical Rainbow was said to be "one inflatable that you should never miss".

That's exactly what Facebook user Joanna Shen did, who went to Art-Zoo with her three-year-old daughter, Zi Ning, and three other relatives.

However, their experience at Art-Zoo left much to be desired.

Daughter excited to try inflatable slide

Shen was spending time with her daughter on two different clusters for about 10 minutes when Zi Ning wanted to try the Magical Rainbow slides.

While they were queuing up for the slides, Shen said that she was trying to look for any signs indicating the height or weight limit, however, there weren't any in plain sight.

Told to descend slide separately

As the mother-daughter duo was about to go down the slide, a staff informed them that they had to go down separately.

Thinking that the descend would be smooth and cushioned due to the bouncy nature of the slide, Shen allowed Zi Ning to go down the slide first.

Shen said that this, however, happened to be "one of the worst decisions" she has ever made in her life.

Fell halfway through the slide

As Zi Ning was halfway through the slide, she tumbled, landed on her back and began to cry.

Shen immediately went down the slide and carried her daughter as she continued to wail in pain.

She was checking her daughter for injuries and realised that Zi Ning's left arm was "dangling from the flesh from the upper arm".

No medics or ambulance on site

Flustered, Shen called out a staff to get an ambulance for her daughter.

However, she was directed towards a rest station and was given two melted ice packs for her daughter's broken arm, while another staff called for a private-hire car to Singapore General Hospital (SGH) as there were no medics or ambulance on site.

Desperate to get medical help as soon as she could for her daughter, Shen went ahead to SGH's A&E department but was told that they could not attend to Zi Ning as she is below three years of age and then rushed over to KK Women's and Children's Hospital via a taxi.

After going for an X-ray scan, Zi Ning had to be hospitalised for three days after undergoing a surgery that required two wires to stick out of her left arm to hold her bones together.

She also has to wear a cast for more than a month.

Alleged Art-Zoo manager contacted Shen

Throughout the entire ordeal, Shen was in contact with Jack, who apparently is a manager for Art-Zoo.

Shen uploaded screenshots of their conversation since March 24 up until April 6.

The conversation started with Jack asking if he could visit Zi Ning on two separate occasions and extended help to her family.

However, when Shen queried how the management will be handling the incident, Jack asked for a clarification and seemed to have stopped replying thereafter.

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Singaporeans share similar incidents at Art-Zoo

The post has since gone viral, with over 2,000 shares and some have shared similar experiences where their children's safety was compromised.

One visitor to Art-Zoo, who claims to be an event organiser himself, shared the "countless" safety hazards he had found when he took his son to last year's edition of the inflatable park.

What is Art-Zoo's safety protocol?

We checked Art-Zoo's website and understood that there are almost no restrictions to enter Art-Zoo, except for younger children to have the ability to support themselves unaided and that anyone below 120kg will have a "fantastic time".

The website also mentioned that Art-Zoo complies with "industry standards and amusement ride safety regulations" for the design, operation and maintenance of all of their activities.

Apparently, the management also reviews and inspects all activities on a daily basis.

Speaking to Mothership, a spokesperson for Art-Zoo shared that they are aware of this incident and have reached out to the family.

"The well-being of every visitor is important to us and our priority now is to see how best to assist, and we are resolving the matter privately with the family. Our current focus is on them at this moment."

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Here is the post in full:

Top image via Joanna Shen's Facebook page