WhiteWater World sued for more than $1m over alleged Fully 6 water slide injury

A mother is suing a popular theme park after her daughter allegedly suffered serious internal injuries on a water slide.

A popular Queensland theme park is being sued for more than $1m after an eight-year-old girl allegedly suffered serious internal injuries on a water slide.

The young Logan girl allegedly lost half a litre of blood after the incident at the WhiteWater World water park, next to Dreamworld on the Gold Coast, in November 2020.

She was also forced to spend four nights in Logan Hospital during recovery and had to return five times for further treatment, legal documents filed to the Brisbane Supreme Court allege.

The young girl was allegedly ‘bleeding profusely’ after she rid the Fully 6 slide at WhiteWater World.

Shine Lawyers filed a statement of claim in July on behalf of the girl’s mother, Sarah, alleging the girl was left “bleeding profusely” after she hit the water forcefully while riding the Fully 6 slide at White Water World.

The legal action seeks $1,027,561.33 in damages against park owner Ardent Leisure and water slide manufacturer Swimplex Aquatics.

The claim alleges the girl has missed school as she continues to suffer physical and psychological symptoms, including ongoing bleeding, abdominal pain, anxiety and nightmares.

The girl was riding the slide on her back with her feet downwards and her leg crossed as instructed by the ride attendant, according to the statement of claim.

The girl’s mother is suing the water park for $1m.

“Due to the forces encountered by her body while making the descent, her legs became uncrossed by the time she reached the splashdown area,” the claim alleges.

“Due to her legs becoming uncrossed … (the girl) made a forceful impact with the water, resulting in water entering her body at force (and) causing a significant tear or rupture of her vaginal wall and bleeding.

“As a result of her injuries, (the girl) left the water slide bleeding profusely from between her legs and required the use of a towel to stop the bleeding at the clinic at White Water World.”

Shine Lawyers National Practice Leader Bree Smith said the girl continues to deal with the trauma nearly three years on from the incident.

“This was an incredibly traumatic injury for somebody to suffer at any age, let alone a girl who’s just eight years old,” Ms Smith said.

“We’re alleging that park staff failed to properly educate (the girl) on how to go down the ride safely, and that if a risk assessment had been done they would’ve identified the potential for injury.

“Our evidence is that there were no lifeguards in the splash zone who responded to the injury area at the time, and that it was up to (Sarah) to get her help for what was plainly a serious injury.”

The eight-year-old girl allegedly injured herself on the Fully 6 slides at WhiteWater World in 2020.

The claim also alleges Sarah was diagnosed with PTSD as a result of what happened to her daughter.

Ms Smith said the girl’s mother, Sarah, has also suffered directly because of the incident, and has even had to give up her job as a aged care nurse due to stress.

“As a result of the serious the injury to her daughter and the ongoing trauma, and having to find help for her daughter on her own, Sarah has been diagnosed with PTSD and has chronic post traumatic anxiety symptoms,” Ms Smith said.

“This incident has had a profound impact on the family, and it’s likely it will take a great deal of time yet for them to recover.”

The lawsuit alleges both Ardent and Swimplex Aquatics are liable because staff failed to warn Sarah and the girl that she needed to keep her legs crossed throughout the entire descent down the slide, and that there was a risk her legs would uncross involuntarily and that could lead to injury.

It also alleges despite the Fully 6 water slide being described as a “high intensity” slide, it was “reasonably foreseeable” that children as young as the eight-year-old girl would ride it and “would encounter strong acceleration and deceleration forces”.

The claim alleges Ardent breached its duty of care to the girl by failing to warn her about these forces and not instructing her to keep her legs crossed or there “would be a risk of water entering her body with a high impact and associated risk of injury”.

The statement of claim was filed in the Supreme Court in Brisbane in July. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Dan Peled

Ardent had also allegedly failed to conduct a risk assessment or implement appropriate risk control measures, according to the claim.

The claim also alleged Swimplex Aquatics had failed to design and test the water slide so it was safe for an eight-year-old girl.

Swimplex Aquatics also failed to recognise the risk of water entering the body at “high impact” or instruct Ardent about that risk, the claim alleged.

Both Ardent Leisure and Swimplex Aquatics are yet to file a defence.

A Dreamworld spokeswoman, representing Ardent Leisure, said the company “acknowledges that a complaint has been received in relation to an incident at WhiteWater World from 2020”.

“The complaint is subject to legal proceedings and, as such, we are not in a position to comment any further on this matter,” the spokeswoman said.

Swimplex has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as WhiteWater World sued for more than $1m over alleged Fully 6 water slide injury