Boy, 10, killed by falling branch at southern amusement park
Staff at site near Lachish hear creaking sound and rush to warn visiting day camp group, all but one of whom scramble to safety
Stuart Winer is a breaking news editor at The Times of Israel.
A ten year-old-boy was killed Wednesday by a falling branch at an amusement park in the southern Negev region of the country.
He was named by media as Salman Naif Jabarin, from the small Bedouin community of al-Fura in the northeastern Negev.
The incident happened during a visit by the boy’s day camp group to Action Park, which is located in an area with eucalyptus groves, near Lachish.
A eucalyptus branch snapped off and fell on the boy as he sat on a bench under a tree.
One of the attendants at the park described to Hebrew media how the incident unfolded, saying that staff tried to warn the children.
“The children had arrived two minutes earlier,” the unnamed worker said. “Suddenly I heard the tree start to collapse. We ran over to them, shouted at the children. They all ran away from the tree except for one boy who was sitting on the bench. He didn’t move, he was in shock, and the tree collapsed on him.”
Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived found the child unconscious with critical head injuries. After resuscitation efforts, they declared him dead at the scene.
Police opened an investigation into the incident.
An official from the Al-Kasom Regional Council, which administers al-Fura and the surrounding region, said there were three school camps visiting the park.
The official blamed the Action Park operators for the tragedy and called for the venue to be closed, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
Park owner Amir Shaul told Channel 13 news that he inspects the park every two months for safety hazards and had determined that the branch that fell on Wednesday was “healthy.”
