A 11-year-old who drowned when she fell from a theme park ride died accidentally, an inquest jury concluded on Monday (11).
Evha Jannath, from Leicester, was unsupervised on a ride at Drayton Manor when she died on May 9, 2017. She fell from the Splash Canyon ride when it hit a barrier. The Jameah Girls Academy student was on a end-of-year school trip.
The inquest heard that Jannath and her friends were repeatedly standing up and reaching into the water before the circular vessel hit a barrier and sent her into the water.
One of the teachers who was on the trip told the inquest that Jannath and her friends had been on the ride earlier and their behaviour had been "responsible enough" for them to be allowed to go again on their own.
After Jannath fell into the water, she was seen wading through the water before trying to climb up a moving travelator. However, she slipped and fell 12ft into deeper water as it was covered in algae. Some 11 minutes after staff was alerted to Jannath's fall she was spotted face down. It took another six minutes to pull her out.
Less than two hours after the accident, Jannath was pronounced dead at Birmingham Children's Hospital.
In a statement, Jannath’s family said: "We entrusted Evha's care and safety to the school and to Drayon Manor. It has become apparent that Evha was not supervised on the Splash Canyon ride as it went down the rapids.
"Teachers were on a different boat a long way back and, while Drayton Manor said the ride was supervised from the CCTV cabin, no member of staff saw Evha fall into the water.
"Tragically, it was over 10 minutes before any member of staff found Evha in the water.
"We have been very upset to learn that Drayton Manor had no life-saving equipment on the ride and no one knew how to rescue Evha.
"We would like to thank the coroner for recommendations she is making as to the safety for this and similar rides in the hope that no other family will have to go through what we have had to endure.”]
The Jameah Girls Academy said in a statement that the inquest has given them an insight into the circumstances by which Jannath lost her life.
The statement added: "Our hearts go out to Evha's family, and we hope that this inquest has given them some closure. As a school we will continue to honour Evha's memory."
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