Ocean Park in Hong Kong has closed its one of its Halloween Fest attractions after a 21-year-old man died, after apparently entering a restricted area.
The park's Halloween Fest opens to the public on Oct. 5 but opens earlier in September for hired corporate events. The deceased was found unconscious in the "Buried Alive" attraction yesterday. Paramedics responded and transported the man to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Local reports say that the man had entered an employee-only, backstage area. The attraction simulates a burial by having guests take a slide to enter the haunted house one-by-one. Apparently the man hit, or was hit by, some part of the slide apparatus in the backstage area.
Buried Alive is one of 11 haunted attractions in the park's annual Halloween Fest, which also includes a house based on the Saw IP. The Ocean Park Halloween attractions had passed inspection by state authorities earlier in the week, but Buried Alive will remain closed pending the completion of an investigation.
Ocean Park is the second-largest theme park in Hong Kong, surrendering its long-time lead over rival Hong Kong Disneyland last year. It is the world's second-most popular aquatic animal park, behind China's Chimelong Ocean Kingdom and ahead of Orlando's SeaWorld.
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I've got to put my hand up here. I've accidentally entered a restricted area at Halloween event. My defense, it was at Europa Park in Germany and I don't speak German. We were leaving early, and the entrance (and turns out the exit) was through a maze, and we couldn't find the way out backward through an empty maze. It was smoky and very dark, and every door or passage had scary warning messages in German. Well, turns out some were real. We accidentally entered the back of the Poseidon (I think) show building. Once we worked it out, we immediately back tracked to where we started. Lesson: If you don't know where you are going, ask for help, even if you can't speak the language.
Something seems a little odd about this whole story. I can understand how somebody could accidentally go through an employee entrance at at Haunted House (I have done that too), but wonder into a dangerous area? I mean, wouldn't it also be unsafe for the employees walking back there? Something seems off.
He might have entered accidentally. Just this past weekend I saw a couple intentionally sneak into a restricted area at a haunted maze event. People do stupid things sometimes...
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The big question here, it seems, is how did the guest manage to wander into a restricted area?
We might think of scareactors simply as the people charged with jumping out at us in houses and mazes, but they perform an important operational role, too - in steering people through a house and away from places where they should not be. A couple of times at HHN27 this weekend, I saw scareactors having to point people the right way through a house, and away from staff exits. It happens all the time.
I have no idea what happened in Hong Kong, and await the results of this investigation but I am reminded by this story how much we ought to thank scareactors, in general, for all they do to keep houses running smoothly and safely for all guests. Just my $.02.