5-year-old falls from giant wheel, receives over a dozen stitches on head

Nagpur: A family from Godhani went through the worst 60 seconds of their life on Saturday, when they were unable to exit a rotating giant wheel while their five-year-old lay bleeding on the ground after falling from the same ride. The funfair set up at Awasthi Chowk turned into father Joshi TJ’s worst nightmare because of what he alleged was ‘faulty safety mechanism’ in the giant wheel locking system.
The child, Ailvart, was rushed to Alexis Hospital where he received over a dozen stitches on the head. Joshi said, “My son was discharged on Monday evening and is currently taking medications for the pain.”
What would have been otherwise a fun-filled evening for Joshi, his wife and two children, aged two and five, turned into a harrowing experience. Joshi said, “We went aboard the giant wheel at the fair and got separate seats due to capacity limitations. My wife, two-year-old daughter and I were on the same seat, while my son was in a separate one. As we started going around in circles, the locking system failed and my son fell down to the platform below.”
The father-mother duo cried out loudly for the ride to stop, but they were locked into their seats and the giant wheel kept moving. “It took the organizers over a minute to bring the giant wheel to a complete halt and for us to get down, while my child lay bleeding. Nobody came to help us. I was scared that my wife would jump off in a hurry to reach our son,” said Joshi.
Once out of their seats, Joshi held a handkerchief tightly to his son’s head to staunch the bleeding and ran towards the exit gate with the boy in his arms. “I was unable to find the exit at first but somehow managed to come out and took an auto to Alexis Hospital,” said Joshi.
The child is back home now and recuperating. “I have lodged a complaint with Mankapur police station and hope that action is taken against the organizers. Safety of every person entering the mela ground lies with them. A safety mechanism has to be put in place,” said Joshi.