The authorities in Massachusetts, United States, have informed that two children suffered potential burns after making contact with a “suspicious” substance that was poured onto the end of three slides at Bliss Park in Longmeadow, a small town located in Hampden County.
The event took place last Sunday June, 11 in the morning. After investigations were conducted, it was affirmed that the substance was muriatic acid, which is typically used for cleaning swimming pools, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Following the situation, the mother of two, Ashley Thielen, told WGGB:
I let the kids go play. I did notice that there was liquid kind of collected at the bottom of the slide. I thought – I just assumed it was rainwater. , but then my baby started crying, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t water. And then my baby, who’s one, just started crying… So that was when I kind of knew that this liquid that they were around was not water,
Thielen later told WGGB that her kids’ wounds are mostly superficial and that they are okay, but the situation could have been much worse.
As per the police official report, their investigator has stated that the liquid substance had been stored in the pump room located in the basement of the park’s pool building. The authorities suspect that perpetrators might have broken into the room where the chemicals were stored appropriately. The official statement says:
A great deal of effort was employed to enter this space. We suspect that the perpetrators may have suffered acid burns to their hands or arms and their clothing may have indications of being degraded from contact with the acid
The playground has now been professionally cleaned, and The Massachusetts State Police will conduct an analysis with a forensic team to collect fingerprints, according to the Department’s official statement.