6-year-old girl dies during visit to Muddinakoppa Tree Park near Shivamogga

On weekends, hundreds of children visit the park. They take photos sitting on sculptures of animals. Recently, a sculpture had developed cracks. The staff removed it to avoid any untoward incident. However, the officials had not noticed any crack in the sculpture that fell on January 28, and led to the death of the child.

A six-year-old girl died reportedly after a cement sculpture, resembling a deer, fell at Muddinakoppa Tree Park near Shivamogga on January 28.

The girl, Sameeksha, was on a visit to the park with her mother. Her father is Harish, a resident of Gandhi Bazar in Shivamogga. The sculpture fell as she was sitting on it. She suffered a head injury, forcing her mother to take her to a hospital. She had breathed her last by the time they reached McGann hospital in Shivamogga.

It is not clear how the sculpture fell on the girl.

The tree park is spread over 25 acres, and is managed by three personnel of the Forest Department. They came to know about the incident only when the mother was looking for help to take her daughter to a hospital.

The incident has prompted the public to raise doubts about the safety of children in the park and the quality of the cement sculptures installed in the park.

On weekends, hundreds of children visit the park. They take photos sitting on those sculptures. Recently, another sculpture developed cracks. The staff removed it to avoid any untoward incident. However, the officials had not noticed any crack in the sculpture that fell on January 28.

Following the incident, the park was closed to visitors on January 29.