A four-year-old boy has been left paralysed from the waist down after a solid plastic board fell on him at the Cape Town train station.
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The incident occurred while he was being carried on his dad’s shoulders, IOL reports.
‘We only came to Cape Town so we can get him tested for allergies at the Netcare [Christiaan Barnard Memorial] Hospital,’ says Madeline Daniels, the boy’s mother. ‘We were referred to this hospital because, where we live in Steinkopf, we don’t have the proper medical resources available.’
‘We finished eating a burger at Wimpy and then were walking back to the car, which was parked near the station. This car was to give us a lift to Paarl, where we would have boarded a bus for the six-hour drive back home.’
Daniels suspects that the panel came loose from a Prasa-owned building. ‘I saw the object that hit him; it was a white board. He [lay] there motionless; it looked like he wasn’t going to make it. Not knowing Cape Town, we ran back to the hospital we were at, and they rushed him to Red Cross Children’s Hospital, where he has been in ICU ever since.’
Although Danielle Cargnelutti, communications officer for the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, confirmed that the boy is a patient, no other details could be provided due to patient confidentiality.
‘I can’t believe that a boy who was so vibrant and full of life had his life changed in an instant. We are praying for his recovery. The doctor said he is paralysed from the waist down,’ says Daniels.
Raymond Maseko, Prasa’s acting regional manager, says the incident was not reported to Prasa or the contractor on site. ‘We are investigating urgently because this is a reportable incident to the Railway Safety Regulator and the Department of Labour and Employment.’
‘Establishing the facts will assist both authorities to guide Prasa as to what further investigations we must do. Prasa will be in touch with the family.’
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Picture: Metrorail WC / Facebook