A young climber became unconscious after her helmet strap caught a large climbing hold which stopped the girl from being lowered according to a report from the Mirror. She hung from her helmet until a staff person saw her and performed a rescue.
The girl’s mother, Tracy Jarvis, was on site and saw her daughter hanging limply from the wall. She told the Mirror, “I turned to see Katie unconscious, hanging by her neck, it was horrific. She was hanging with her whole body weight on her neck, and it made her pass out.”
The accident took place at the Fun Factory Rochford, Essex. A facility that specializes in kids birthday parties.
After being rescued the climber was put into the recovery position and later regained consciousness – before being offered a free juice and wet tissues by staff at the Fun Factory. It is unclear from the article whether or not this facility uses auto-belays. But from the photo, it seems probable, and highly likely in party places such as this, that an auto-belay was being utilized.
An auto-belay’s function is to slowly lower the climber after a fall. There is no way for the machine to take weight or lift a climber upwards.
According to the article, staff did not call an ambulance which, “horrified” the mother. The mother took her daughter to a local hospital where “doctors were shocked to learn Katie had not been given a neck brace after suffering a neck injury.”
The girl suffered whiplash, neck pain and emotional stress. Mrs. Jarvis and her husband are calling for changes to be made regarding the safety rules surrounding the use of climbing walls but did not mention whether or not they would bring a lawsuit against the Fun Factory.
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