“A teenage girl has died after suffering serious head injuries when a makeshift sledge crashed in South Yorkshire. Francesca Anobile, 16, of Mosborough, Sheffield, was among five girls hurt in the incident at Rother Valley Country Park, near Killamarsh, on Tuesday. She was airlifted to hospital in Sheffield, where she later died.
South Yorkshire Police described the accident as “a tragic sledging incident”.
The girls had been using an improvised metal sledge, made from an upturned Land Rover roof, which went through a barbed wire fence. It then struck a separate section of fence in a field being used for cattle grazing. Jules McKay, who saw the accident, said: “There were a lot of people on the slope. Everyone was sledging as normal and having a good time. All of a sudden, at a tremendous speed, came this roof with the girls on it. It was so fast they couldn’t jump from it. “We looked on and just hoped that they were going to get up but no one did.”
Police are liaising with park rangers and the Health and Safety Executive in their investigation into the accident. The South Yorkshire force issued a warning about the dangers of playing on snow and ice. A spokesman said: “Police would like to highlight the importance of personal safety during this period of adverse weather and advise everyone to take extra care when playing out in the snow and ice.” Rotherham Council said it had taken steps to prevent people sledging on that particular slope.”
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/7868765.stm
Kris is a Senior Lecturer, and Co-Director of the Centre for International Sports Law (CISL) at Staffordshire University, UK. He originally trained and competed as an elite gymnast until a shoulder injury at university forced him to retire as an active competitor. He now spends his spare time coaching Trampolining, Gymnastics, DMT, Cheerleading, Parkour and anything that involves throwing yourself through the air with various degrees of twist and rotation!
Jon is an Associate Professor, and Co-Director of the Centre for International Sports Law (CISL) at Thompson Rivers University, British Columbia. Jon worked as a climbing guide, trained and coordinated search and rescue, managed risk and sales in the United States with a European-based manufacturer of outdoor equipment and advised recreation programmes on their exposure to legal risk. His extra-curricular background is just as diverse and includes stints playing semi-pro volleyball in Brazil, researching wolves in the Canadian Rockies, climbing and leading expeditions from Alaska to Argentina, Tajikistan to the Tetons, and many points in between. He has been married to Wendy for 15 years and together they have 2 wonderful kids – Tegan (10) and Brock (8) – whom he continues to emotionally scar as their football coach!
February 11, 2009
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