Woman loses finger on West Edmonton Mall waterslide

SASKATOON — A Saskatchewan woman says she lost a finger after her ring got caught on a waterslide at one of the largest malls in North America.

Claire Clark was celebrating her granddaughter’s third birthday at West Edmonton Mall’s water park on Aug. 5 when Clark decided to take a ride on a slide called the Corkscrew.

She said she became snagged after grabbing onto a thin piece of mesh and foam padding at the top to push herself down..

“My ring caught on that thing that I grabbed and it ripped off my finger, and my finger went with it,” Clark said. “It was awful.”

Clark said the skin on her right ring finger was torn at the first knuckle and there was only bone left on the rest of the finger.

Clark said she remembers going down the slide and holding her hand so that she wouldn’t get blood everywhere. She lifted it to make sure it didn’t go under the water.

Clark’s 28-year-old daughter found the finger and pointed it out to a lifeguard, who dove into the pool to retrieve it and the ring.

A plastic surgeon at the University of Alberta hospital told Clark that there was nothing left to sew the finger back into, and it had to be amputated. The surgeon did the procedure that day and Clark has six millimetres of her finger left.

West Edmonton Mall said it was unable to comment but is investigating.