More victims come forward

Hans Scheuerl, 6, pictured with his mother Flora Scheuerl, is the latest victim to speak out against Inflatable World's safety procedures. Photo / Warren Buckland

More horror stories continue to surface in the wake of a serious accident at Napier's Inflatable World.

Napier mother Flora Scheuerl dropped her 6-year-old son Hans at Inflatable World on June 26 for a birthday party.

When she returned to pick him up she found Hans sitting quietly while the other children played.

"I was told that he had a hard fall. He had landed on his head on an exposed piece of concrete."

Hans began vomiting and was rushed to the emergency department.

"Thank God he has recovered now it could have been a lot worse."

Ms Scheuerl said it was lucky not to be a fracture like that other "poor boy." She was referring to 10-year-old Zaybein Wathey who was also playing on a bouncy castle when he fractured both the back of his head and temple after he fell down a hole.

He is recovering in Starship children's hospital.

The resulting investigation saw Inflatable World director Gary Adamson decide to close Napier centre until safety procedures can be brought up to standard. Worksafe NZ is also investigating.

Mr Adamson was not aware of Hans' injury but said he would be looking into the incident.

Ms Scheuerl said that she didn't believe the playground had any safety measures in place at all.

The company's website states "all participants use the equipment at their own risk".

"The parents felt the staff weren't doing their jobs and were more interested in playing on their cell phones than monitoring the children," she said.

Maree Denniston was visiting Napier last week and also took her boys to Inflatable World.

"We were only there 10 minutes when our 9-year-old son came crying to us with a grazed forehead and four broken teeth."

She said her son's big front tooth was broken off on an awful diagonal and three others were chipped.

Her son was bouncing with friends when he was pushed off. He face-planted on the floor.

Ms Denniston said there was very little padding over the concrete.

SafeKids director Ann Weaver yesterday released figures provided by Starship showing 16 children with serious injuries from bouncy castles had been admitted to the hospital in the past five years. "Considering how many children participate in these kind of activities there is a low number who require hospitalisation but when it does happen it can be quite severe, as we've seen with this latest case," Ms Weaver said.

She said playgrounds have to be on soft surfaces like rubber or grass and believed bouncy castles should be too.

"It's a concern for me that they are being inflated on top of concrete."

-Additional reporting NZ Herald