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Meadowhall escalator fall boy's tongue sewn up
A FOUR-year-old boy needed surgery to sew his tongue back together after plunging 10 feet from an escalator at Meadowhall's interchange and smashing his face on the ground.
Rohan Deidrich was waiting for a bus with his mum Kirstae Dunks when he ran off and started playing on the escalator.
Kirstae says she is unsure what happened to cause the fall.
She said: "It might have been his shoe laces which got caught, but whatever it was it sent him flying 10ft through the air, landing flat on his face on the concrete."
The 22-year-old, of Horninglow Road, Firth Park, said she approached a member of staff at the interchange and asked them to call an ambulance - but she claims her request was refused.
Kirstae said: "He told me that people need to stop their kids from running around - he wasn't even bothered.
"Luckily a member of the public came to help and called for an ambulance. There were a lot of people hanging around and I was having to keep them away, he wasn't screaming or crying - he was really drowsy and his mouth was bleeding."
Rohan was taken by ambulance to Sheffield Children's Hospital, where he underwent surgery to sew a 2cm slit in his tongue back together. He also suffered bruising to his eyes.
A spokesman for the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive said they had not received any complaint about the attitude of the member of staff.
He said: "If received, this would be fully investigated."
The spokesman added the initial report to the customer services team had been that the boy had cut his lip.
He said: "In accordance with procedures for minor injuries a first aid trained officer was immediately sent to help the customer and assess the child's injury, and the customer was offered use of a telephone.
"When the officer came over to attend to the child, the mother, who was now accompanied by another member of the public, informed him that emergency services had been called via mobile phone and that paramedics were on the way.
"It was at this point that our member of staff was told that the child had hurt his head in the fall.
"The child was sitting up, fully conscious and breathing normally. The customer services officer stayed with the family until the paramedics arrived and took the child to hospital as a precaution."
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
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Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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