Boy, 5, badly burned on celebration Aussie break
Harry needed hospital treatment after a visit to a Sunshine Coast theme park
A5-year-old boy suffered third-degree burns to his bottom after sitting down on a metal waiting platform at an Australian fun park. But although, six months later, Harry Sloan’s horrific injuries have improved, his parents are feeling dejected after Aussie World management refused to offer an apology or admit to any fault.
The holiday to Aussie World on the Sunshine Coast was meant to be an opportunity for the Wanaka family of five to create some memories after dad Andrew was diagnosed with brain cancer in February last year.
Andrew Sloan, 40, said his tennis ball-sized tumour was discovered a month after crashing off his bike in December 2017.
He was operated on in March but only about 60 per cent of the tumour could be taken out because the rest was too close to the brain stem.
Months of arduous chemotherapy and radiation followed before Sloan was well again.
The multisport athlete said he was going to fight the disease with everything he had because he was too young to die.
“We’ve got three little kids, aged 5, 7 and 9. This is just devastating. I don’t want to die when my kids are little,
so I’ve got everything to fight for.”
Locals set up a Givealittle page because Sloan was off work for most of the year and the Sloans used some of the money to help pay for the 14-day trip across the Tasman, where they also celebrated Christmas.
On day six, a stifling hot 38C day, they went to Aussie World.
After a couple of rides, Harry went to the Space Shaker, akin to the Pirate Ship that used to be at Rainbow’s End.
However, Harry was told by the attendant that he’d need his shoes on and, as normal, the little boy sat down to wait for help to put them on.
But the area he sat on, albeit briefly, was a metal plate in the ride’s waiting area.
After complaining of a sore bottom Harry was taken to first aid where he waited for an ambulance, Sloan said.
“It was full-thickness burns. As bad as it gets, right down to those fleshy cells, I guess.”
He said Harry was in huge amounts of pain, and had to return to hospital four more times for dressing changes.
The family returned home on December 30 and had Harry’s bandages changed at Dunedin Hospital under general anaesthetic.
Sloan said Aussie World got in touch the day after Harry was burned and again in January but then the communications stopped.
After getting back in touch last week, the company told Sloan their investigation had been completed and found the incident was no fault of their own.
It would offer no further recompense apart from a family pass and a $300 food and beverage voucher.
Sloan said he and wife Cherie were gutted with the company’s “cold and clinical” handling of the situation, which they’ve never received an apology for.
Their son’s injury had ruined a $13,000 holiday that was supposed to create positive memories and instead had left their son traumatised by any surface that could get hot.
He said they finally decided to speak out to warn other families in the hope it wouldn’t happen to anyone else. “We shelled out about $12,000-$13,000 to fly across there and all the accommodation and rental car to have it all ruined — for a holiday to celebrate me being alive.”
John Paini, managing director of Aussie World, said the company treated the health and safety of guests “with the utmost seriousness and care”.
“All of our staff are trained to offer initial assistance and first aid when a guest is ill or injured, they also understand the importance of undertaking an emergency response if required.
“This particular incident was clearly distressing for all parties involved, including many of our staff members whose children regularly attend our theme park.”
He said Aussie World continued to comply with all national occupational health and safety regulations and there had been no significant issues raised by the inspection teams.
Sloan said he was disappointed with the company’s response, which he felt was the family again getting “pawned off as unimportant” by a big corporate company that lacked empathy.