Tbilisi Vake Park gardener praised for saving two children

An employee in the ecological service of Tbilisi’s Vake Park recreational area has been receiving nationwide praise since Thursday for rescuing two minors from the park’s fountain after three of them got electrocuted in the water.

Devi Mezurnishvili, a gardener of the Eco Service company, told local media he had heard other children asking for help at the fountain before responding to their calls and discovering the three minors in the water.

"I took two children out of the water. They were all [in the water] and unconscious. I was also electrocuted and was unable to take the third one out," he said, adding the third child, a 13-year-old girl, was taken out of the water later before being pronounced dead from injuries sustained in the incident.

The three minors got electrocuted after one of them attempted to retrieve a ball that had fallen into the recently renovated fountain in the park, with two others trying to help after his fall into the water. 

Mezurnishvili said he and several other individuals had provided first aid to the unconscious children until the arrival of an emergency crew. “I wanted to believe all of them would survive”, he told reporters. 

The condition of one of the two, a 13-year-old boy currently undergoing treatment in New Hospitals clinic in Tbilisi, has been stabilised from his critical condition, doctors said on Friday. The third child remains under care at the Children's Central Hospital with minor injuries.

The Georgian interior ministry has launched an investigation for violation of safety regulations related to the recently renovated fountain infrastructure, with several employees of Tbilisi city hall and contractor company Green Service Plus already interviewed.