A woman named Vivien experienced the nightmare of her lifetime as she drowned in City Square Mall's newly opened suspended net playground filled with thousands of balls. Vivien along with her blogger husband John Lowe shared the frightening memories after getting submerged in the ball pit on their Facebook page.
"Today I had the fright of my life. We went to the newly opened Air Zone at City Square Mall. I was afraid of heights. But my boy wanted to play. So I just went ahead. I thought the ball pit was the safest place of the 3 storey structure. But I was so wrong," posted Vivien.
"Not long into the play, I lost my balance in the ball pit and fell backward. I could not reach the bottom and I could not stand up. I tried to roll over, I couldn't. I tried to find the net so I could grip it, I couldn't. My son was stuck inside too. I panicked and waved and screamed for help," continued the trapped woman.
After some shocking moments, Vivien finally stabilized herself after grabbing someone's hand. Soon, she yanked her son out. Through her Facebook post, Vivien made it clear that her intention was not to trigger a blame game, but to create awareness in the minds of parents before letting their kids go inside the ball pit.
"There is a certain level of danger in the playground and there is only so much the staff there can do. I appeal for you to go in with your kids. The more adults there is inside, you can help watch out for other kids. Just for info, the balls were up to about my armpits when I'm standing, and I'm 1.72m tall. Yes. Well yes it was fun, just not entirely suitable for young kids. Adult supervision needed. Lots of it," Vivien made her stand clear.
As the video of Vivien's drowning incident went viral, operator of the pit Airzone intervened and thanked the lady for bringing the situation to their attention. Airzone also stated that they would conduct a safety review to address emergency situations. The operator made it clear that efficient actions will be taken to ensure the swift response of its first aid-trained staff.
According to Airzone, children under the age of seven should be accompanied by their parents while entering the pit.
After the response of Airzone, John Lowe replied that this ball pit is one of the best places where someone can experience safe drowning. He also added that decreasing the number of balls in the pit will not be the best choice for quality customer experience.
