After the death of five 15-year-old girls in a fire in a so-called escape room in Koszalin in northern Poland, the Polish fire chief Leszek Suski has made serious allegations against the operator of the facility. As a decisive reason for the death of the girls called the fire department commander the lack of suitable escape routes.
The girls have apparently died of smoke poisoning. In addition, however, heaters would have stood near combustible materials, says Suski. There were also candles found. Structures and electrical installations would have been provisional.
A defect in the gas-fueled heating system probably caused the fire, prosecutor Ryszard Gasiorowski said. However, this is not confirmed yet.
A 25-year-old alleged employee of the gaming facility was hospitalized with severe burn injuries on his face and has not been interviewed so far.
Escape rooms are all about liberating themselves from closed spaces by solving certain tasks. This type of leisure activity is enjoying increasing popularity not only in Poland. The business press speaks of about a thousand facilities of this kind. From 2016 to 2017 alone, their number has doubled.
Since the morning, the fire department inspects escape room facilities across the country. But it does not seem easy to find any of them at all. Many of the facilities are rather temporary, as a spokesman said.
In the town of Koszalin itself, all cultural events and also the procession to the Epiphany were cancelled at the weekend. Instead, tomorrow’s Sunday in the city should be a day of mourning. The five girls actually wanted to celebrate a teenage birthday with the adventure game.
Shirley Mist has been involved in fashion and design for many years. She has also written extensively for many online publications. She currently writes for The Tribune World and is a valued member of our team.