Acid was sprayed over slides at a Massachusetts playground, causing “burn-like injuries” to two youngsters. According to a press release from the Longmeadow Fire Department, police and firemen were called to the playground on Sunday morning after suspicious chemicals were discovered on the slides.
Longmeadow is located approximately 5 miles outside of Springfield. Simultaneously, emergency medical services were dispatched to a home after two kids came home from the playground with acid burns. The mother of the two injured children, Ashley Thielen, told WGGB that she saw a puddle of liquid on the slide but thought it was water.
“And then my baby, who’s 1, just started crying… So that was when I kind of knew that this liquid that they were around was not water,” she said. After pouring the substance onto three slides, firefighters concluded that it was “acidic in nature.“
The tweet about Massachusetts Slides Containing Children Burned by Acid:
Two children were left with “burn like” injuries when they came into contact with a pool chemical that had been poured onto playground slides at a park in Massachusetts, fire officials said https://t.co/1S6ERMLbcV
— CNN (@CNN) June 13, 2023
Muriatic acid, a dilute solution of hydrochloric acid used to disinfect and remove stains from concrete and brick, was identified by the hazmat team as the offending chemical. The chemical was discovered to have been stolen from the pump room in the park’s basement after further investigation revealed that the thieves had scaled fences and entered the facility via a ventilation shaft.
“We suspect that the perpetrators may have suffered acid burns to their hands or arms and their clothing may have indications of being degraded from contact with the acid,” the fire department said in the news release.
While the remainder of the park remained accessible, the playground was closed off “out of an abundance of caution” until it could be cleaned thoroughly.
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