Parents of child who died in amusement park tragedy donate his corneas

AMMAN — The parents of Ali, the 13-year-old boy who fell off a ride and passed away in an amusement park, donated his corneas to help others, Secretary of the Friends of the Jordan Eye Bank Society Ahmad Shaker said on Sunday.

Ali’s mother wrote on her Facebook page that he had been waiting for Saturday for a scheduled trip with his scouts group, which consisted of a swimming activity, a trip to the amusement park and a dinner.

“I was supposed to pick him up at 8pm and expected to find him extremely happy, but it turned out he died two hours before, and I arrived on time to find him dead...,” Ali’s mother wrote.

“The videos shared have hurt me deeply, what is this carelessness with people’s lives? What is this carelessness by the supervisors of both the trip and the ride?” she wrote, as dozens of mourners offered their condolences on her page and all over social media.

On Facebook, Tahani Abughoush commented, “This is tragic for the parents, but the amusement park needs to be shutdown, especially since Eid [Al Adha] is coming and it is dangerous for children to get on such a ride that is inappropriate for their age.”

Abughoush added: “They should have at least put a rubber floor beneath them, instead of risking children’s lives for profit.”

Social media users also expressed admiration towards the parents’ “fortitude” and their choice of donating the corneas. They also expressed fear of taking their children to amusement parks with dangerous rides after the incident. 

On Sunday, the prosecutor general office ordered the detention of three people, the owners and employees of the amusement park, after the child fell off the ride and died.

The Public Security Department’s spokesperson on Sunday said that relevant agencies on Saturday received a report about the incident in which a 13-year-old boy fell off a ride at an amusement park in Amman’s Muqabalin neighbourhood.

The boy was rushed to hospital, and later was announced dead, the spokesperson added. The prosecutor general ordered the closure of the park.