Boy injured while playing with Sea World toy 'beyond recovery'
The heartbroken family of a six-year-old boy who was allegedly injured playing with a toy from Sea World has been told he is "beyond recovery".
Deklan Babington-MacDonald, from Nerang on the Gold Coast, was playing with the stuffed penguin toy at home on April 25, when he suffered a "severe accident".
The accident reportedly involved the toy, which was purchased from the theme park in Main Beach just days earlier.
On the fundraising page set up for Deklan's family, it explains his family performed CPR before a helicopter transported him to Queensland Children's Hospital.
He was taken to the Intensive Care Unit and is in a critical condition.
In an updated on behalf of Deklan's mother, Lauren, his aunt announced the doctors said he was "beyond recovery".
"Deklan’s life support will be withdrawn in the next 48 hours," the update said.
"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."
More than $10,000 has been raised so far and the money donated will go towards Deklan's memorial and allow for Deklan's mother to make a keepsake with his ashes.
Toy removed from Sea World shelves
The toy that Deklan was playing with at the time of the incident has since been removed from the shelves at Sea World.
In a statement to Yahoo News Australia, Village Roadshow Theme Parks acknowledged the incident involving the six-year-old.
"The Village Roadshow Theme Parks family are distressed to learn about the tragic accident involving Deklan," the statement said.
"We need to understand the circumstances around what has occurred and will be fully cooperating 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."
Village Roadshow Theme Parks will be reaching out to Deklan's family to offer support and the spokesperson said there will be no further comment until "all the facts are known".
Few details are known as to how Deklan was injured, however family member Lea Williams told NCA Newswire the toy in question was a stuffed penguin wearing a harness attached to a lead.
The lead was stiff with a pole, which came out.
“It broke and turned into basically a long rope with a loop on the end," Ms Williams told NCA Newswire.
"In a very short amount of time Deklan became entangled."
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