Private water park near Lahore sealed after nine-year-old girl dies after allegedly getting trapped in drainage pipe

LAHORE: The Lahore district administration sealed a private water park in Batapur on Monday after a nine-year-old girl allegedly got stuck in a drainage pipe and died due to the alleged negligence of park officials, it emerged on Wednesday.

Batapur police arrested three officials of Sozo Water Park after registering a criminal case against them.

The incident occurred on Monday, when the park administration allegedly began draining a swimming pool without first evacuating the children who were still swimming in it.

Police said the powerful suction created by a high-capacity drainage pump pulled the nine-year-old girl into the pool’s drainage pipe, where she became trapped.

Rescue teams searched for the child for around 40-50 minutes before she was found stuck inside the drainage pipe. She could not be revived.

Following the incident, the district administration immediately sealed the water park and suspended all activities.

A district administration spokesperson said the facility had been sealed on the day of the incident and that legal action was initiated against the management over alleged negligence.

The victim had recently returned from Dubai with her family and was her parents’ only daughter.

Police registered a case at Batapur Police Station under Section 322 (Punishment for qatl-bis-sabab, or causing death or harm without intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s mother.

The complainant alleged that her daughter had died due to the negligence of the water park administration. She nominated the park’s manager, security in-charge and CCTV in-charge in the case.

A copy of the first information report (FIR) is available with Dawn.

The spokesperson for the Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Operations said in a statement that all three nominated suspects had been arrested.

He said the girl died after falling into the drainage pipe and noted that no safety net had been installed over the pipe.

According to the statement, DIG Operations Faisal Kamran stated that an investigation had been launched to examine the circumstances surrounding the incident, determine the extent of negligence and fix responsibility on those responsible for the incident.

He said the investigation was focusing on the alleged decision to start draining the pool while children were still inside and whether mandatory safety measures around the drainage system had been ignored.

Kamran said that strict action would be taken against the people involved in causing the girl’s death and that she would be provided justice, the statement added. ...