Teen sledge death declared an 'accident'
Francesca Anobile's death has been declared an 'accident'
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Wednesday, 16, Sep 2009 04:54
By Richard James.
The death of a teenage girl who crashed into a barbed wire fence on a makeshift sledge has been ruled an accident.
Francesca Anobile, 16, and friends had been playing in the snow in Rother Valley Country Park in February when the incident occurred.
The girls used a converted Land Rover roof to sledge down the 270m disused grass ski slope. However, they lost control on the way down and crashed into a section of wire stock fencing, throwing Francesca into the air.
The teenager sustained fatal head injuries as a result of the crash, while her friends also sustained serious, but ultimately not life-threatening, injuries.
Rotherham coroner Nicola Mundy has now said either the old slope should be closed or the fence nearby never rebuilt.
She said the tragic accident had been the result of a series of factors including the length of the slope, the eight of the girls and the roof and the state of the snow.
Following the inquest, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) also released a statement declaring the way the park was managed was not to be at fault in relation to the accident.
Chris Chambers, HM inspector of health and safety, said: "Our enquiries focused on the role of the council to determine whether any member of park management was aware that people were sledging on the Land Rover roof, or whether they had been complicit in its use.
"It soon became clear that although staff were aware that members of the public were in the park, they were not aware that the Land Rover roof had been brought to site and was being used as a sledge.
"It was the combination of the weight of this improvised sledge, the height of the slope from which it was launched and the resulting speed which caused this tragic accident."
Hundreds of people attended Francesca's funeral in Sheffield earlier in the year.