Teenager dies in fairground accident in Dover after 'boarding ride while park was closed'

3 August 2022, 12:14 | Updated: 3 August 2022, 14:11

A teenager has died after a fairground ride accident in Dover.

An investigation has been launched to establish exactly what happened as the fair was not due to open until later today.

The circumstances of the death are unclear but he is understood to have suffered fatal injuries after becoming trapped in some fairground equipment, according to local reports.

Police were called to the scene at 7.45am today.

A Kent Police spokesperson said: "We were called by South East Coast Ambulance Service to Pencester Gardens, Dover at 7.45am on Wednesday 3 August.

"No suspicious circumstances have been reported, and the Health and Safety Executive have been informed.’

A South East Coast Ambulance Service spokesman said: "We were called at 7.42am this morning to a serious incident at Pencester Gardens in Dover.

"We immediately dispatched a number of clinical resources to the scene, however, sadly, a teenage boy was pronounced as deceased at the scene.”

The site was hosting the Family Funfair run by Kent-based Forrest Amusements which, according to a poster, was due to open to the public on Wednesday.

A spokesman for Forrest Amusements declined to comment, but said the company would be issuing a statement later.

A witness told the PA news agency that she had seen "three ambulances, a couple of fire trucks and some police vehicles along Pencester Road, which was blocked off.

"They were saying there had been a fatality, and the entrance to the fair had been cordoned off with tape."