Cause of death revealed for girl, 9, who fell unconscious in Hersheypark wave pool

A 9-year-old girl died from drowning in the Hersheypark wave pool and did not have a medical event prior to the drowning, according to the coroner.

The death was ruled accidental.

The Dauphin County coroner’s office on Monday night released the cause and manner of death for Sophia Subedi, who died after falling unconscious in the wave pool Thursday night at Hersheypark.

She was a member of the Bhutanese community.

Subedi’s death marked the first guest fatality in the amusement park’s 119-year history.

Lifeguards noticed Sophia was in distress, pulled her from the water and tried to resuscitate her.

“The Shores,” is a wave pool at the park containing 378,000 gallons of water that goes into periods of waves every ten minutes.

Sophia, born in 2016 in Columbus, Ohio, had lived in the Harrisburg area since 2022.

She was set to start fourth grade at North Side Elementary in the Central Dauphin School District. Her funeral will be held Wednesday at Jesse H. Geigle Funeral Home, and a GoFundMe has been set up to support her family, who described her as kind and compassionate.

A witness told WGAL they had just arrived at the wave pool about 6:45 p.m. Thursday, when it was still 92 degrees and they “saw a child being pulled, limp, from the wave pool.

“Lifeguards blew their whistles, evacuating everyone, and within moments, staff and security rushed to help.”

Hersheypark officials said there were about 200 people in the wave pool at the time Sophia fell unconscious, which is “far less than half of its designed maximum capacity.

Bryner said there were 10 lifeguards stationed at the wave pool at the time Sophia went into distress.

While Sophia’s death is the first involving a guest at Hersheypark, a 16-year-old maintenance worker was killed in August 1977 when a roller coaster train struck him while he was operating a track switch on the SooperDooperLooper.

Derry Township police Chief Garth Warner said his police department is assisting Hersheypark and the Dauphin County Coroner’s Office with collecting evidence and putting together what happened before the girl’s death.