Father thanks rescuers for helping daughter trapped inside washing machine

Muscat: The father of a little girl who was trapped inside a washing machine has thanked the authorities for saving his child’s life.
“I would like to thank the team from Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance (PACDA) for their tireless efforts in rescuing my girl,” the father told Times of Oman. Seven-year-old Salma was stuck inside the washing machine on Sunday in wilayat Shinas, but was thankfully, unharmed.
“Salma was playing with her brothers in the courtyard of our house in Al Wadayat area on Sunday afternoon,” her father said. “She was playing atop an abandoned washing machine. The cover broke and she fell into it.”
The family promptly contacted the emergency services. “We called PACDA for help. It didn’t take a long time for them to get her out,” added the father.
An official from PACDA described the rescue operation. “The operational services received the report on Sunday, after which the rescue team was immediately deployed to the location.”
“When the team arrived on site, they saw the child was trapped inside the washing machine. The on-ground unit had specific types of equipment used in such cases. The team had to cut through the sides of the machine in order to ensure the safety of the child during the operation, as pulling the child out directly could have severely injured her.”
“Thankfully, in this scenario, the washing machine was old and unfunctional; if it was in working condition, she could have been electrocuted or possibly lost her life,” he added.
Since this is not the first instance in which a child has been trapped inside a washing machine, the authorities have called on all parents to “constantly monitor their children, whether they are indoors or outdoors, as children cannot differentiate between dangerous and safe situations”.
The authorities also asked parents not to allow their children to tamper with electrical appliances at home to avoid any sort of risks that could arise.
After the rescue, Salma was reported to be in “good health” and did not require further hospitalisation.
Earlier this year, a Colorado family was startled when they woke up to hear their four-year-old son “crying so hard he could barely talk”. The two parents had recently installed a new washing machine, and their son was trapped inside the appliance.
The machine had started to run, with the couple finding their child tumbling inside the drum by the time they arrived.
In June, a three-year-old boy died in the Polish city of Slupsk, after accidentally locking himself inside a washing machine during a game of hide and seek with his sister. His father found the boy locked in and immediately called an ambulance. But by the time they arrived, his condition was already critical. Medics performed resuscitation for over an hour after he was taken to a nearby hospital.
In May, a boy in the eastern Chinese province of Shandong was rescued from a washing machine after climbing into it while playing at home unattended. The four-year old’s mother was in the other room doing chores.