Two dozen people were burned during a fire walk on the Au peninsula. The organizers intended the event as a team building exercise.
The walk over hot coals on the Au peninsula in Wädenswil ended for some in the hospital.
A team building exercise in Wädenswil on the Au peninsula made headlines on Tuesday evening: Two dozen people suffered burns after walking over glowing coals.
The police were alerted after the protection and rescue service in Zurich received an emergency call around 6 p.m. The paramedics had moved out with a large contingent, writes the Zurich cantonal police in a communiqué.
The injuries were very different, says Fabian Frei, media spokesman for the cantonal police, on request. A total of 25 people received medical treatment on site. In 13 people, the burns were so severe that they had to be hospitalized, Frei said. The others suffered rather minor injuries.
police investigated
The private event was a team building event for the Goldbach Group, which belongs to the TX Group. The company confirmed this to the NZZ. The “Weltwoche” reported first. A total of 150 people from the sales team took part in the event.
The cantonal police in Zurich have now started investigations. The investigation is intended to show whether any incidents relevant to criminal law have occurred. According to Frei, no proceedings have been initiated by the public prosecutor’s office so far.
Not the first time
A person affected shared a video “story” of the event on Instagram. “That’s how it started,” writes the Goldbach Group employee and shows the burning wooden towers. “And that’s how it ended”: You can see people walking on a course over the glowing coals, with mats laid out in between. A leader shouts instructions to the participants and shouts “Be careful”. The young woman in the film then shows the burn blisters she has contracted on her feet. The headline reads: “The stupidest idea ever”.
This was not the first incident of this kind. In 2003, national floorball player Gabriela Breitenstein also injured herself at a team building event with fire walking. The burns were so severe that she had to have surgery and was in a wheelchair for ten days. The organizer of the fire walk was then criticized. She did not take proper medical precautions for the event and got help too late. The walk over the hot coals was intended as motivational training, as reported by Swiss television at the time.