Toddler dies in water slide fall after slipping from father’s arms at Aquagan water park on Croatian island of Rab

A toddler has died after falling from her father’s arms on a slide at a popular tourist attraction. The tragedy took place at the Aquagan water park on the Croatian island of Rab on Tuesday (July 22).

According to local outlet 24 Sata, a German tourist and his 21-month-old daughter boarded a water slide but the little girl suddenly slipped from her father’s arms falling from a height of around 3.5 meters landing on the concrete floor.

According to two tourists from the Czech Republic, who were among the first on the scene, the father knelt next to the motionless child saying through his tears: "Don't ask me anything... my daughter is dying."

Speaking to 24 Sata, one witness said: “The waiter just brought my coffee when we heard crying and yelling, we thought the child had drowned. Then we saw a man carrying a child on his side. There was a doctor from Slovenia who immediately came to help. They managed to wake up the girl, she was moving her hands.”

Emergency services were quickly on the scene with Firefighters from DVD Lopar making space for the air ambulance to land. The Institute for Emergency Medicine confirmed the child was found unconscious with multiple life-threatening injuries and was stabilised at the scene before being transferred to KBC hospital in Rijeka.

Despite medics’ best efforts, she died the following morning, KBC Rijeka announced.

The tragedy is said to have shocked the local community. Mayor Zdenko Jakuc said: “It is an understatement to say that we are all extremely shaken. When the helicopter landed, everything stopped. We all looked to the sky and hoped for the best.”

The mayor said no similar incidents have ever been recorded in the 20 years the slide has been on the park, a claim backed up by Lopar Tourist Board who said: “That park has been operating for years, nothing like this has ever been recorded.

“Lopar is a place that is perceived as safe, peaceful, ideal for families with small children. It's terrible that something like this happened. We sincerely regret and express our deepest condolences to the family.”

Speaking to 24 Sata, the “visibly shaken” owner of the water park, Josip Ivanić, said he was “not ready to make a statement.”

The Primorsko-Goranska Police Department confirmed the child was of German citizenship and that a criminal investigation is being conducted. A police spokesperson said: “At the moment, it is not known whether the slide was marked for use by a couple, or with a child in their arms, and whether all safety protocols were followed. The investigation will determine all the facts.”