According to Tukes’ chief inspector, the case had the ingredients for a serious accident.
A whirlwind of dust lifted Jukupark’s bouncy castles into the air, estimates the meteorologist on duty at the Finnish Meteorological Institute Ari-Juhani Punkka. Three people were injured when the wind would lift three bouncy castles several meters high Jukuparki water park in Impivaara, Turku on Saturday.
Since the weather was sunny and rainless at the time of the accident, according to Punka, the wind phenomenon was a matter of a dust vortex. A dust vortex is often confused with a thrombi, i.e. a tornado.
“It can outwardly resemble a thrombus associated with rain and thunderstorms. However, the dust vortex occurs under a clear sky,” describes Punkka.
He estimated that the Jukupark dust vortex was stronger than usual.
“It can move surprisingly large objects. The mounting of the bouncy castle may have temporarily been subjected to a heavy load.”
Dust swirls are harmless to people if there are no objects around that can take flight.
“You can get sand in your eyes and mouth, but nothing else,” says Punkka.
According to him, there is no reason to be particularly afraid of a dust storm hitting your own yard.
“It is much more likely that the object will take off on a normal windy day.”
Strong dust storms are reported every year, especially in early summer. According to Punka, whirlwinds have occurred in markets and fields, for example.
In a dust vortex, the wind speed can reach up to 20 meters per second. The diameter of the vortex, which lasts from ten seconds to minutes, varies from meters to twenty meters.
“It’s difficult to estimate the height, but I’ve seen videos where the tent could fly tens of meters up, in some cases even a hundred meters,” says Punkka.
Southwest Finland the police are investigating the course of the Jukupark accident. No criminal complaint had been filed in the case by Monday.
“An investigation request has been registered on the matter. We are investigating the events, and based on that we will assess whether there is reason to suspect a crime,” commented the crime police constable Juha Heino.
Communication Manager of the Accident Investigation Centre Tiina Bieber says it is not investigating the case.
“In this case, the biggest question is how they [pomppulinnat] was attached to the ground, and it’s up to Tukes to investigate,” says Bieber.
Chief Inspector of the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency Tukes Petteri Mustonen confirms that the agency is investigating the incident.
According to Mustonen, Tukes is currently relying on media information about the case.
“We have asked the operator for an explanation. We will find out what has happened and whether this kind of situation can happen again,” he says.
Only three a day before the accident, Tukes reminded about carefully fixing the bouncy castles on their website.
According to Mustonen, the agency has been concerned about mortgages on bouncy castles in recent years. A similar announcement was made last summer.
“That’s when it became apparent that there have been several fatal accidents in foreign countries where a bouncy castle has taken off.”
In the summer of 2022, Tukes became aware of one near-miss situation where a bouncy castle was lifted up by the force of the wind.
“In the case, the bouncy castle was partially stuck to the ground and partially took off,” Mustonen describes.
According to him, in the case of Jukupark, there were ingredients for a serious accident.
Juku park the manager Hannu Hellman’s by the bouncy castles were hammered firmly into the ground with long wedges. Hellman told STT that the tornado passed through the park so quickly that the bouncy castles that were in the accident did not have time to be emptied.
According to Chief Inspector Mustonen, the general wind limit for using a bouncy castle is nine to eleven meters per second.
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