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The cable had been inspected a month before and showed no cause for concern.
The campground is redesigning the equipment and implementing more frequent safety checks to prevent future incidents.
A child’s “severe internal injuries” caused when a flying fox snapped at a popular campground have been detailed for the first time.
The boy, who suffered a severed pancreas in the freak accident, has also expressed thankfulness it happened to him instead of his little sister, his family say.
Theboy, referred to as Orson, was injured in mid-January when the flying fox cable at Quinney’s Bush campground near Nelson unexpectedly snapped.
“When the cable snapped, the runner part of the flying fox fell and struck Orson in the chest/stomach area,” says a post on the holiday park’s Facebook page.
Orson was treated by three health professionals who happened to be camping at the site and was then flown by helicopter to Nelson Hospital. Early next morning he was flown to Christchurch for specialist care “as his internal injuries were severe”.
“Orson returned home after a 17-day stay in hospital; he suffered from multiple internal injuries including a severed pancreas and resultant large cyst,” the post says.
“The latest ultrasound scan in April showed a vast improvement and thankfully, the cyst has virtually resolved.”
Orson has been able to return to playing sports and can now consume all food types.
“We have very experienced staff with building and engineering qualifications who inspected all our equipment just a month before the accident to ensure all amusements are in great working order. No damage was evident during their inspection and if any damage had been found along the wire, we would have replaced it immediately as we have done so in the past,” the post says.
“We understand that if we had inspected the cable in the days leading up to the accident, we could have prevented this from happening. The cable that snapped only lasted half the time of the previous cable, which was replaced as we had noticed a bit of fraying during our inspection.”
Quinney’s Bush hopes to have answers soon on what caused the cable to snap so quickly and how it can be prevented in the future.
“We take the health and safety of our staff and guests very seriously, and moving forward we will conduct more regular safety checks, especially over the busy period, to ensure this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
The small flying foxes are closed until summer.
“To put this incident into perspective, this is the first serious accident with this particular flying fox in almost 30 years of operation.”
The holiday park is redesigning the small flying fox runners and implementing a new inspection regime with the help of a structural engineer. Both of the small flying foxes are closed during this work and should be back in use by summer.
The post also includes a message from Orson’s family, who said they were grateful to everyone who rushed to help when he was injured.
“It is certainly prevalent to ensure playground equipment be in safe working order, we wouldn’t wish for any other to go through such trauma.”
The family said Orson was “thankful it happened to him rather than his younger sister – who was next in line – or another small child who could have been hurt worse”.
Commenters on the post thanked the holiday park for its transparency and for providing an update on Orson.
“My daughter was metres away at the playground at the time and was very worried, and has been asking many times if I’ve heard anything on how the boy was doing. It’s great to give her some positive answers,” wrote one mum.
A WorkSafe spokeswoman said they have taken enforcement measures in response to “health and safety shortcomings” at the camp.
“All businesses must manage their health and safety risks, and WorkSafe will hold them to account if they don’t. We continue to make inquiries and our investigation remains ongoing,” the spokeswoman said in a statement.
“WorkSafe carried out a site visit following an incident on 18 January 2025. Five improvement notices were issued in relation to health and safety management focused on the flying foxes at Quinney’s Bush.”
The notices included requirements that the design, build and verification of the flying fox must be done by a suitably competent engineer, the testing and inspection regime must be put in place with an engineer at appropriate intervals, and that “fall from height risk” must be effectively managed.
The camp has until June 27 to make the improvements.
Melissa Nightingale is a Wellington-based reporter who covers crime, justice and news in the capital. She joined the Herald in 2016 and has worked as a journalist for 10 years.
