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Home / World

UK tourist has insides 'ripped apart' by water slide in Spain

NZ Herald
4 Sep, 2019 10:30 PM4 mins to read

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Monu Bhagat, 38, was left with an 8cm internal tear when spending the day at Aqualandia. Photo / Monu Bhagat

Monu Bhagat, 38, was left with an 8cm internal tear when spending the day at Aqualandia. Photo / Monu Bhagat

A British mum who went on a family holiday in Spain ended up with horrific internal injuries after using a water slide at the same water park at which another holiday-maker was left paralysed.

Monu Bhagat, 38, was left with an 8cm internal tear after spending the day at Aqualandia water park in Benidorm with her husband Summit, 46, and two children, aged 11 and 13, The Sun reports.

Monu was the first of her four family members to go down the VertiGO slide and was given safety instructions to close her legs. But as she went down she suffered serious vaginal injuries as water was forced inside her body.

The family, who flew out to Alicante on August 24, had planned the holiday 12 months in advance, but now the mother wants to warn other women about the dangers of using water slides.

"As I went down I felt a tight pull and to start with I thought I had a wedgie, but as I got out of the pool blood started pouring down my legs," she told The Sun.

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"My daughter saw the blood and she was so scared.

"I knew that it couldn't be my period but I tried to stay calm and not panic the children."

Even though the pain was "unbearable", medical staff at the water park didn't think Monu's injuries were serious enough to call an ambulance.

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The medic gave her a dressing to stop the blood and told her to take a taxi to the hospital.

However, the mother didn't want to ruin her children's day and stayed at the water park for a while longer before going to hospital.

She said by the time she arrived, the dressing was dripping with blood.

"The doctor said it wasn't a small tear and she would stay with me so I wasn't on my own," she said.

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Monu rushed to surgery after doctors were stunned by her serious injuries. She was given an epidural and received stitches for the 8cm tear.

Monu spent 24 hours in hospital before returning to the villa the family had rented to recover before their flight home.

She said she was unable to enjoy the rest of her holiday but will luckily make a full recovery after six weeks off work.

Now back in the UK, she said: "It was a freak accident and I'm not really sure what went wrong, but I think it has something to do with the design of the slide.

Monu with her husband Summit and two children outside the Aqualandia water park just hours before the accident. Photo / Monu Bhagit
Monu with her husband Summit and two children outside the Aqualandia water park just hours before the accident. Photo / Monu Bhagit

"We are a family of adrenaline junkies and me and my husband have been skydiving and bungee jumping but this has put me off doing anything extreme.

"Women and girls need to know what they are getting themselves into. It could have easily have happened to my daughter."

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Monu said that if the cut was bigger, her uterus could have fallen out.

"I'm older and have had children, but if it happens to someone younger it could completely ruin their life or chance to have children," she said.

This is not the first time a woman has suffered these injuries on a water slide.

In 2017, Toni Steedman thought she was going to die and lost six pints of blood after an incident on a water slide.

Toni was with her family at the Aqualand water park in Tenerife and claims she was not given safety instructions to cross her arms and legs.

She suffered a 7cm tear to her uterus and said she was given three blood transfusions.

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In 2014, Brit Jamie Norman, 27, was also injured on the same slide as Monu in Benidorm and was left with serious injuries to his face and legs.

The Sun has contacted Aqualandia water park for comment.

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