Tbilisi Vake Park gardener praised for saving children in face of life-threatening risks
Devi Mezurnishvili saved the lives of two children on Thursday, following an electrocution incident in Vake Park. Photo: video grab
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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.
Devi Mezurnishvili, a gardener of the Eco Service company, told local media he had heard other children asking for help at the fountain before responding to their calls and discovering the three minors in the water.
I took two children out of the water. They were all [in the water] and unconscious. I was also electrocuted and was unable to take the third one out”, he said, adding the third child, a 13-year-old girl, was taken out of the water later before being pronounced dead from injuries sustained in the incident.
The three minors got electrocuted after one of them attempted to retrieve a ball that had fallen into the recently renovated fountain in the park, with two others trying to help after his fall into the water.
Mezurnishvili said he and several other individuals had provided first aid to the unconscious children until the arrival of an emergency crew. “I wanted to believe all of them would survive”, he told reporters.
The Georgian interior ministry has launched an investigation for violation of safety regulations which caused death. Photo: interior ministry press office.
The condition of one of the two, a 13-year-old boy currently undergoing treatment in New Hospitals clinic in Tbilisi, has been stabilised from his critical condition, doctors said on Friday. The third child remains under care at the Children's Central Hospital with minor injuries.
The Georgian interior ministry has launched an investigation for violation of safety regulations related to the recently renovated fountain infrastructure, with several employees of Tbilisi city hall and contractor company Green Service Plus already interviewed.
Tbilisi City Hall employees have claimed the site had been checked several times, with the latest maintenance check coming on August 29.
Georgian PM and interior minister, as well as Tbilisi mayor Kakha Kaladze have pledged “strictest punishment of offenders” in the case.
The renovated part of the park opened to the public on Wednesday.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday hailed the Svetitskhovloba holiday as a “symbol of all the precious values that unite us - our faith, spiritual strength, unity and Christian values”, in comments coming for the celebration of the ancient capital Mtskheta and the Svetitskhoveli cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage monument in the city.
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.
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”.
Giga Gigashvili, the head of the Tbilisi city hall environmental protection service, on Wednesday announced his resignation following the arrest of his deputy, along with eight others, on charges of professional neglect that claimed the life of one minor and injured two others in an electrocution incident in the city’s Vake Park last week.
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.
President of Georgia Salome Zourabichvili on Thursday posthumously awarded Marita Meparishvili, the 13-year-old who died from injuries sustained in an electrocution incident in Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area in October, with the state Medal for Civic Dedication.