Not our fault, says Aphrodite manager
By Jennie Matthew and Chris Hickman
A BRITISH tourist says he will try to sue the Paphos Aphrodite Waterpark for negligence after his ten-year-old son fell and gashed his leg. He had to have twenty stitches put in the wound.
Richard Smith says that his son Matthew, aged 10, slipped and fell near the restaurant area, cutting his knee on what the father described as “cracked tiles and broken glass”. Smith said that a lifeguard, responsible for first- aid, drove the boy and his mother to Paphos General Hospital where Matthew was treated.
Yesterday, the waterpark’s General Manager, Andreas Nicolaou, disclaimed responsibility for the accident. “The boy was running and he slipped. He fell, breaking a tile with the force of his fall. No one can help this, if you run or if you are careful.” Nicolaou also said that confidence in the Aphrodite Waterpark had returned following the tragic death by drowning of a three-year-old boy and that attendance figures were up.
The incident involving Matthew Smith happened just days after the water park was given an operational permit. According to Nicolaou, only seven swimming pool facilities on the island, including hotels, have been granted such a permit.
Richard Smith, from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire, southern England, yesterday lambasted the management at the Aphrodite Waterpark. “We wouldn’t go back if you paid us,” he said. “I’m going to try and sue them for negligence because they knew [about the broken tiles]. I’m not just doing this for my son. I believe someone will fall and break their back.”
Nicolaou told the Cyprus Mail: “Everything gets blown up because of the incident [a reference to the drowning three weeks ago]. But the Smith family denied that this was the case – and they also denied that their son was running. “We told the children not to run, because I could feel that the floor was slippery. He was not running, he was walking back with his sister and my husband was just behind them,” said Fiona Smith, the boy’s mother. “The tiles were already cracked, whether or not his fall made it worse.”
All the broken tiles were repaired by yesterday afternoon.
The accident to Matthew Smith follows the drowning on July 30 of Vassilis Amdjias in the cavernous ‘Leisure Pool’ after he wandered away from the attention of his parents. Two days before that, on the Aphodite Waterpark’s second day of opening, 18-year-old British tourist Carly Tweedie was trapped underwater for several seconds by a strong current. Her family said she was rescued by a German tourist.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday about the waterpark generally, Nicolaou said that business has been back to normal this week and he confirmed that safety and hygiene checks were made daily.
“After the shock, business is now back to initial figures, both from locals and tourists,” he said.
When questioned about why the park had opened without a operating permit, Nicolaou said: “There is no way an operating permit is issued by authorities before the park is open because part of the inspection is during the operation. They had already inspected the installation.
“The permit is issued by the Municipality of Yeriskipou pending the inspection immediately after the opening. There is only one law which relates to public swimming pools.”
Factors under scrutiny relate primarily to technical installations like pumps, lights and other electrical items, and health and hygiene matters such as filters. Nicolaou said: “We are the seventh in Cyprus to get these permits.” He claimed that many hotels and swimming pool complexes don’t have such permits.
As for safety, Nicolaou said: “The law recommends one lifeguard for three hundred bathers. We have more than 25 at any one time. We are proud that we are among the very few who have the operating licence.”
He said that checks were made daily on safety and hygiene. “In the three weeks we have been opened no one has complained of ear or eye problems which can be common in this sort of operation. This is because we do not use chlorination but a more expensive method using salts, an electrolytic action in the wave pool. “I have been in the hotel business for 30 years, I know what the requirements are. We have created a nice theme park an not just a collection of slides. People come, enjoy it and they come again.”
The Smith family, though, will not now be going again, although the accident happened on their second visit. They had read about the drowning before they first went to the park on Monday and had a “wonderful time”. Richard Smith said the children had slipped a couple of times, but “we went back because we had a great time, the food was good and we had a nice afternoon.”
But, he said, Matthew’s wound had ruined the family’s two-week holiday to Cyprus. “My son is scarred for life. The one thing he wanted to do was snorkeling and paragliding and now he can’t. He can’t even walk up the steps to the villa. All he can do is lie on his back.”
