A quality and technical supervision team from Shanghai's Minhang District will perform a thorough examination of the Jinjiang Amusement Park after an eight-year-old girl fell from a platform in the park and had to be rushed to hospital with an eye injury last Thursday.

Fu Yiyu fell from a platform as she was trying to get onto the park's Octopus ride at 1pm on Thursday. She hit her head on a lighting box under the ride and cut the corner of her right eye.

She needed four stitches to close the wound and her parents are worried the injury will leave a permanent scar.

Fu, a student at Yangbo Elementary School, visited the amusement park on a spring school outing with hundreds of other children.

Fu's parents and teachers examined the Octopus ride right after the accident. They said four lighting boxes under the ride should be moved as they are a potential hazard.

"We found the machine itself is fixed to a very safe height above the ground, but the lighting boxes are dangerous. My daughter actually fell with her classmate together. The other girl just received some bruises, not like my daughter who bumped to the lighting box under where they slipped," said Fu Xianmin, the girl's father. "The cut goes from the corner of her eye to the eyebrow. We are very worried it will leave a scar."

Park workers rushed the girl to hospital right after she fell and paid her medical bills. While her parents say they are pleased with the park's immediate response to the emergency, they are still waiting to see what it will do to fix the security flaws they found.

"During our check-up, we also happened to notice the springs supporting security bars on several chairs had come off or were loose," the father alleged. "I think they should remove the lighting equipments below the Octopus and also beef up security condition of all rides to avoid a more serious accident," he added.

Engineers from both the city and district bureaus of quality and technical supervision arrived soon after the accident to inspect the ride.

They allegedly told Fu that the ride itself "basically complies with the safety rules" but there are no rules on where the light boxes can be located.

(Shanghai Daily April 20, 2005)