6-Year-Old Child Dies as Village Hall Railing Collapses... Mother Appeals, "If Only There Had Been Warning Signs"

The deceased child's uncle appealed for attention to the incident on the online community 'BobaeDream' on the 28th. The photo shows the accident scene shared by the uncle along with his post. [Photo by Online Community Capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Soyoung] The mother of a 6-year-old child who died after a marble railing at the entrance of a village hall in Dangjin, Chungnam collapsed has appealed for justice through a petition.

On the 28th, a petition titled "Please help clear the injustice of ** who lived only 58 months and left for heaven" was posted on the Blue House National Petition Board.

The petitioner began by saying, "I am a mother raising children aged 5 and 6. I have no idea where to ask or seek help, so I appeal to the people."

Petition posted by the parents of the child who died when the marble railing of the village hall collapsed. Photo by Cheongwadae National Petition Board capture

According to the petitioner, on that day, the children's parents took the two children to help with rice planting at a relative's house, which was short-handed due to the impact of COVID-19.

The father hurried to the rice field, while the mother took the two children and their cousin (5 years old) and, avoiding the dangerous seedling trays and crane truck, went out of the small house to play in the village hall yard.

Later, when the older child was holding onto the railing with both hands near the wheelchair ramp on the side of the village hall and seemed to be trying to hang by lifting both feet, the structure collapsed and fell on the child, who eventually died.

The petitioner stated, "The cause of death was a severe impact to the chest, resulting in fractured ribs and pneumothorax in the lungs, and eventually excessive blood accumulation around the heart caused cardiac arrest due to the pooled blood."

She revealed, "The village hall managers kept repeating that 'the problem arose because the building is old,' and that 'they did not know the stone structure was in such a condition and there are no regulations for facility maintenance.'"

She added, "They say it is solely the parents' fault for not properly watching the child in this situation and that we are to blame. Hearing that there is no responsibility for negligence in managing the aging facility makes me endlessly sorry for our baby **."

She continued, "I think this was a foreseeable accident. On the day of the accident, while the child's father was saying his last goodbye in the emergency room, he clearly heard someone's voice behind the curtain saying, 'I knew it would collapse someday.'"

The petitioner also pointed out, "This is a public building built for village residents' gatherings and a resting place for residents. Are the facility managers who neglected the building's dangers for over 20 years and the Dangjin city building administrators not at fault at all?"

She appealed, "If there had been even a single line saying 'Caution required when using the facility,' this young life would not have left so easily. Please pay attention so that I, as a parent, can answer my always curious and questioning child, even in my dreams."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.