Image: Twitch
Multiple streamers have been seriously injured due to an unsafe foam pit at TwitchCon San Diego.
TwitchCon San Diego ended in controversy recently after a streamer broke her back in two places at a foam pit. The foam pit was part of a booth organised by Lenovo and Intel at the convention, inviting streamers to knock each other off of platforms in gladiator-style games. The booth was only shut down after multiple streamers sustained injuries from falling into the foam pit.
Streamer Adriana Chechik confirmed via Twitter that she broke her back in two places and will need surgically-inserted metal rods to recover from her injuries. This happened after she fell into the foam pit:
There is actual footage of her jumping off the platform and into the pit, which seems to have been too shallow to cushion her fall. After Chechik falls into the pit in the video, she says, “I can’t get up,” but staff at the booth insist that, “she’s fine,” and, “lives in the pit now.” If you’re squeamish, you might want to give the video a skip.
In a bizarre lapse in logic, the booth continued to stay in operation after seeing multiple visitors sustain injuries from falling into the pit. Some participants reported dislocated knees, ankle injuries and more painful consequences from trying out the foam pit. Despite all these reports, the booth continued to be in operation at TwitchCon for a second day.
Kotaku reports that the booth was eventually closed because its attendees had been, “breaking rules,” according to the booth’s staff, which is a hilariously transparent attempt at evading responsibility if I’ve ever seen one. The foam pit was described as being, “three cubes deep,” which is not nearly deep enough for anyone to jump into without sustaining injury. Add onto that the fact that some attendees were actually told to dive into the foam pit headfirst, and you have a serious liability suit just waiting to be filed.
Lenovo is reportedly working, “with event organisers to look into the incidents,” but Twitch has not responded to these reports yet.
