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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lisa Hodge

Six-year-old boy dies after being fatally injured from Sea World penguin toy

A six-year-old boy has passed away after being fatally injured from a penguin toy he got from Sea World.

Deklan Babington-MacDonald died from a 'severe' injury while he was playing with the theme park toy on April 25.

Family members performed CPR on Deklan before paramedics arrived at the family home in Nerang, Australia and the child was helicoptered from his home to Queensland Children's Hospital where he was treated.

It is unknown what the toy was or the circumstances around his death.

However just days after he was admitted doctors told his family the youngster would never recover and they made the devastating decision to switch off his life support machine on April 30.

The toy has been removed from sale as the theme park investigates, The Mirror reports.

A fundraising page has been set up in his memory and it reads: 'Deklan passed away on the 30th of April, at Queensland Children’s Hospital, surrounded by his closest family, extended family and some close friends of the family."

An earlier message on the page had read: "On Sunday the 25th of April sweet 6 year old Deklan suffered a severe accident at home in Nerang, with a toy he was playing with.

"Deklan's family performed CPR and he was helicoptered to the Queensland Children's Hospital where he remains in the Intensive Care Unit in a critical condition.

"Deklan's mum Lauren and the family are dedicated to their little man and want to be by his side during his care.

"The donations made to this cause will go towards transport and accommodation costs, any costs that are incurred by the family taking time off work, and any support to aid in Deklan's recovery.

"Any contribution will help at this difficult time and enable Lauren and her family to focus their energy on Deklan and his recovery.

"We appreciate all the love and support from everyone and if you know Lauren please hold off messaging her directly at this time.

"As you can understand this is a devastating time for the family so please respect their privacy and understand they won’t be able to talk on the phone. They are reading the messages of support and appreciate all the love and kindness shown by the community.

"The money donated will go towards Deklan’s memorial and allow Lauren to make an important keepsake with Deklan’s ashes when the time is right."

A Village Roadshow Theme Parks spokesman last week said the company was “distressed” to learn about Deklan’s tragic accident, Yahoo reports.

A spokesman said: “We need to understand the circumstances around what has occurred and will be fully co-operating with any investigation.

“As our number one priority is always health and safety, we have removed the toy in question from sale at this time.

“We will also be reaching out to Deklan’s family to offer support … We will not be making any further comment until all the facts are known.”

Gold Coast Police have said there were 'no suspicious circumstances' found in their initial investigation.

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