Father tells of slide mishap agony

It was the most agonising five seconds of John McDonald's life.

Having just watched in horror as his little boy Mason disappeared over the wall of a water slide at a Bullsbrook theme park, Mr McDonald endured a painstaking and lonely ride to the finish.

"It would have been about five seconds but it felt like an eternity," he said yesterday. "I didn't know if I was going to find him dead or alive - I can't even begin to describe how that felt."

The father and son had been riding together when Mason - who turns six today - slipped off his father's lap and careered over the wall of the blue slide at Outback Splash on Sunday afternoon.

"It happened so incredibly fast," Mr McDonald said. "You've got no time to react. It was a case of an instant and he was gone."

Mason suffered multiple skull fractures when he hit his head on the concrete below. Patrons attending a St John Ambulance function at the water park helped Mason until paramedics arrived.

Mr McDonald said last night his son was no longer in the intensive care unit at Princess Margaret Hospital but faced a long road to recovery.

It was not known when Mason would be allowed to go home.

"But when he gets out, he'll need constant supervision," Mr McDonald said. "It's his birthday tomorrow. He got a new bike a few days ago but there's no chance of going on that now.

"We've literally got to wrap him in cottonwool and with school holidays coming, I'm quite gutted for him." Outback Splash management have closed the blue slide until further notice.

WorkSafe confirmed yesterday it was investigating the weekend incident, while the WA Health Department is looking at the design and performance of the slide.

Some parents have taken to social media in recent days to tell their stories of near misses on the blue slide but Mr McDonald said he "did not have an axe to grind" with Outback Splash.

“I don’t want people to lose jobs or the business to fold,” he said.

“They did not set out to do this and as long as they hold up their side to modify the slide, it should be fine.”