The family of a 13-year-old girl who was confirmed dead after she was thrown off from an amusement equipment in Zhaohua Culture Park, in Chongqing Municipality on Friday afternoon will be compensated, say authorities.
The cause of the death of Gan Tian was identified as the improper operation of park rides by park officers and a seat belt that suddenly broke, according to the State Administration for Quality Supervision.
Ironically, the equipment was approved for use in an annual quality inspection two months ago. No malfunction of defect was reported.
Last night, Gan's father had signed an agreement with the park, where he will be compensated 870,000 yuan (127,000 USD) for the loss of his daughter. However, the quality of amusement park equipment and relevant regulations are still in question.
Yesterday afternoon, a journalist from media platform, The Cover, visited Zhaohua Cultural Park. The broken amusement park ride has been covered by a white cloth. However, people can still see the broken third seat that held Gan Tian.
There are a couple of other rides in the park that have been shut down as well.
"There were quite a lot of people using these rides," an anonymous witness told The Cover journalist. "Soon after the ride set off, a girl was thrown out from her seat. She attempted to seize the handrail, but failed."
Now, the question is why Gan and her cousin were allowed to get on the ride, when the regulation clearly forbade children under 12 and those under 120 centimeters tall to take the ride.
Gan and her nine-year-old cousin successfully bought tickets from the park officer and no one asked them to show their ID card.
Also, the ride passed a recent quality inspection on December 12, 2016, and was confirmed as "qualified to use" after adjustments.
Meanwhile, on the website of Chongqing Municipality Special Equipment Supervision Department, the latest quality inspection time for the ride was November 4, 2013.
So why was the December 2016 inspection not listed on the website? Those responsible have yet to answer.
The State Administration for Quality Supervision announced that 18 amusement parks in China have the same ride, and all of them have been put out of commission, and a new round of investigation is underway.
