‘SUSPICIOUS SUBSTANCE’

Two Massachusetts Kids Injured on Acid-Doused Playground Slides

Officials suspect thieves busted into the pool building’s chemical storage area and poured stolen muriatic acid on three slides.

Two children suffered “burn-like injuries” after thieves stole pool acid and poured it on three slides at a playground in Massachusetts, according to the Longmeadow Fire Department. Authorities were dispatched Sunday morning to a park for reports of “a suspicious substance on the playground equipment” and discovered the pool building’s basement pump room had been broken into. Based on evidence of two fences being climbed and a ventilation shaft cover that was ripped off, officials suspect the acid thieves busted into the chemical storage area through the vents. Muriatic acid, a strong and highly corrosive chemical used to clean pools, was then found on the slides, a Haz-Mat team determined. The fire department believes the perpetrators likely “suffered acid burns to their hands or arms and their clothing may have indications of being degraded from contact with the acid.” An investigation is ongoing, and the playground has been cleaned but fenced off.