A six-year-old girl suffered a serious hand injury on a playground in Temirtau, nearly losing a finger, reports infohub.kz.
The incident occurred at a playground at 6 Valikhanov Street. According to the girl's mother, the child's hand became stuck in a gap between the slide's edge and its chute. The metal edge clamped down on her finger so tightly that it couldn't be freed. By the time adults arrived to help, the finger was bleeding and only held by the tendon. The parents had to bend the metal sheet to release the girl's hand.
“The girl never went outside alone, but that day we had just returned from the dacha, went inside, and she asked to go to the playground to meet her friends. No one thought she would climb the slide. Literally 2-3 minutes later, there was a knock at the door, and she came in with a bloody finger,” said the child’s mother, Anastasia Korunnaya.
The child was rushed to the hospital, where she underwent surgery on her phalanges. “We quickly went to our trauma center, where they saw us immediately out of turn and said we needed to go to the regional children's hospital in Karaganda. The operation had to be done there because she had severed her tendon. Now the child is in stable condition, receiving injections and bandages; her finger is already moving. The doctors said that if not for the quick decision-making, she could have lost the finger forever. She is left-handed,” the mother added.
Now that the immediate danger to the child's life has passed, Anastasia intends to address the condition of the playground. According to her, the area has been in a poor state for a long time: some elements have been broken for years but remain on site. This is not the first accident at this playground; children allegedly regularly break their arms, scrape their knees, and return home with bruises.
Last month, all of the city's playgrounds were transferred to the management of the Temirtau Parks of Culture, Recreation and Public Gardens. “We are conducting phased technical inspections and repairs of playground equipment. Regarding this incident: we plan to inspect the playground. If repairing the slide proves impossible or impractical, we will consider dismantling it,” the management said.
Specialists added that the service life of a significant portion of playground equipment in Temirtau has expired. Based on the technical inspection results, all objects that do not meet safety requirements and cannot be repaired will be dismantled.