A six-year-old in Adelaide was lucky to survive a freak accident with her school hat, which has left a rope burn across her throat.
Marley Oster was going down a spiral slide when her school hat got caught in a crack. The safety mechanism failed to release, leaving the youngster hanging by the hat’s cord.
Marley’s mum Gail Oster told Adelaide Now that the accident could have been fatal if not for an eight-year-old peer coming to her rescue.
Madison Fleming slowly shuffled down the slide to release the safety clip and set Marley free.
“It resulted in a really bad neck injury. The doctor told me another 45 seconds and her windpipe would have collapsed,” said Mrs Oster.
Mrs Oster also said she was told if another child had gone down the slide without knowing she was there, Marley could have easily broken her neck.
This isn’t the first cord on a school hat to cause damage. Earlier this month, a five-year-old Toowoomba girl’s broad-brimmed hat became stuck between the nets and she hung from the neck until the cord snapped.
Similarly in September, a kindergartener in Western Australia slipped on a climbing frame and he was left with rope burns after the cord became caught around his neck.
As a result, Mrs Oster wants all cords and clips on hat banned completely to prevent seeing more serious ramifications from the hazard.
As a result of the stranglings, the Department for Education and Child Development in South Australia have issued a “hazard alert” and banned all hats with cords or toggles from schools.
