Minor dies in electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park fountain
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A 13-year-old girl has died from injuries sustained in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area on Thursday, doctors of the University Clinic in Tbilisi have confirmed.
The tragic development follows the incident reported by local media, in which three minors were injured after attempting to retrieve a ball that had fallen into the recently renovated fountain in the park.
One of the other minors is in critical condition and undergoing treatment under artificial ventilation at the New Hospitals clinic in the city, while the third remains at the Children's Central Hospital with minor injuries.
The Georgian interior ministry has launched an investigation for “breach of safety regulations during the placement, design, construction or other works”, and has already summoned several individuals for interviews.
Expressing his “deep sorrow” over the incident, Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze named Greenservice as a major contractor in the renovation work of the popular park, with the recreational area reopening to the public on Wednesday.
Kaladze said the work on the infrastructure had been completed “long before” the opening of the park and that “everything had been checked [with the latest check conducted on August 29]”. He said he was “shocked by the tragedy” and promised those responsible would be “strictly punished”.
The second phase of the cascade and fountain renovation in Vake Park was completed on Wednesday, with the city hall spending ₾6,500,000 ($2.3mln ) on the project.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday extended his condolences to the family of the 13-year-old girl who died from injuries sustained in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area earlier during the day.
One of the oldest recreational parks of Tbilisi, Vake Park will be fully closed in a few days due to ongoing renovation works, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze said earlier today.
By the decision of the Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili, all events planned within the framework of the inaugural Wine Days festival in Georgia have been postponed over the death of a 13-year-old girl who died from injuries sustained in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area earlier today.
“All necessary” expertise, investigative and procedural actions will be conducted on the tragedy and the offenders will be punished with the“ full severity” of the law, Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, the Georgian deputy minister of internal affairs said on Thursday at the briefing regarding an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area.
An employee in the ecological service of Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area has been receiving nationwide praise since Thursday for rescuing two minors from the park’s fountain after three of them got electrocuted in the water.
Italian sports media has praised the homage paid by Napoli’s Georgian midfielder Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Marita Meparishvili, a 13-year-old girl who died from injuries sustained in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area on Thursday.
The Georgian law enforcement on Tuesday arrested nine individuals, including the deputy head of Tbilisi city hall’s environmental protection service, following its investigation into the deadly electrocution incident in the city’s central Vake Park last week that claimed the life of one minor and injured two others.
Irakli Kobakhidze, the chair of the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Wednesday said the domestic opposition’s demands of “political responsibility” of Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze in the wake of the tragic incident that took the life of one minor and injured two others in the city’s Vake Park last week was “empty speculation” and “absolutely inappropriate”.
UNICEF Georgia on Monday called on national and local authorities in Georgia to work with professionals, civil and private sector representatives to make cities fit and safe for children, in response to the deadly electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park earlier this month that killed one minor and left two others injured.
Two individuals, including the former Head of Tbilisi City Hall’s Environmental Protection Service, were on Monday denied bail by Tbilisi City Court in the case that led to the death of a minor in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park in October.