 |
|
The cause of the accident is under investigation. It is unlikely that rider misconduct caused this accident. The ride is closed indefinitely.
A rodeo spokesman maintains that the rides operating at the fair are safe.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
Investigators called to the site to examine the ride say that the lap bar, which snaps into place to restrain passengers, either wasn't closed properly by the ride operator, or was opened by a rider after it had been locked. They did say, however, that opening the bar was not easy, and it would have been difficult for a rider to release the latch.
The Himalaya, built in 1984, was inspected on March 9th. Four of the cars were tagged and could not be used because of safety problems with the lap bar latches. The victim's car was not one of these cars. No problems with the latch mechanism were found on the victim's car.
The investigation is not expected to end until next week.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
The Cyclone rollercoaster formerly operated by B&B injured 14 people at the Arizona State Fair in Phoenix in 1991, and seven people at the same fair in 1992. Eight more people were injured on this same ride in 1993. Other accidents occurred on the company's Tilt-A-Whirl, Flying Bobs, and Gravitron rides.
The company's accidents have also involved employees. One employee was crushed to death in 1995 while assembling an amusement ride, and another was fatally electrocuted while working on the Gravitron ride in 1994. An attorney representing B&B said that no rider has been killed on a B&B ride since the 1980s. He would not comment about the company's safety record.
In 1996, the Orange County State Fair of California dropped B&B as its operator because of the many accidents that occurred on its Cyclone rollercoaster. B&B later sold the Cyclone to an amusement park in Mexico after it had injured at least 38 patrons.
The Texas Department of Insurance and local police are still investigating the cause of Thursday night's accident. They are expected to finish sometime next week. B&B will then conduct its own investigation.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
The employee told an Austin news station that the rider approached him after the accident and said "I told y'all it was broke."
Meanwhile, a lawyer for B&B says that the ride was in good operating condition at the time of Thursday's accident, and that the company is waiting to conduct its own investigation of the ride before it makes any conclusions. Police have exclusive access to the ride while they continue their own investigation.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
Police, who have impounded the ride, also say that many customers had complained throughout the day about the operation of the ride. One rider said that her lap bar came loose while she was riding the Himalaya with a friend on Thursday night, and that she and her friend had to cling to the frame of her car until the ride stopped. She claims that they called out to operators to stop the ride, but they did not respond. The girl approached the ride operator after the ride had ended and told him that her lap bar was broken. The operator examined the bar, but then reloaded the ride with passengers and continued to operate the ride.
Police say that the physical evidence and eyewitness testimony could form the foundation for a criminally negligent homicide case, punishable in Texas by a state jail term of 180 days to 2 years, and a fine of up to $10,000.
In the affidavit, Detective Mark Gilchrest said that several riders had called him after the accident telling him that the Himalaya experienced safety problems during the day on Thursday, and that ride operators were not checking to make sure that restraining bar latches were secured before they operated the ride. He also said that some riders told him that the ride was being operated too fast. Gilchrest also noted his observation that the ride appeared to be "poorly maintained," and that he had reason to believe that the ride was being operated at an "unsafe" speed.
Robert Powell, the attorney representing B&B Amusements, says that the affidavit is hearsay, and that no conclusions about the operation or safety of the ride should be drawn from it. B&B insists that the ride was in good operating condition at the time of the accident.
Investigators from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission have been called to the scene, and are expected to examine the ride today.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
3/24/98 |
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by mechanical failure. The accident happened when a wheel that runs along the inside of the track broke off from the axle of the last car after a nut loosened. The ride's safety systems engaged, preventing the train from derailing.
The park has installed a new safety mechanism to the trains.
In 1986, 3 people were killed when a similar malfunction on a roller coaster in Canada caused a coaster train to derail.
At least two other accidents in which riders were thrown from their cars on Himalayas occured in Florida and Missouri. The manufacturer of these rides, Reverchon S.A. Industries of France, has made no comment on any of the incidents.
An attorney for B&B Amusements, owners of the troubled Himalaya ride, suggests that the safety concerns noted by inspectors in California were results of general wear and tear on the machinery, and that no connection should be made to those incidents and the fatal incident in Texas.
Austin police report that the owners of the Himalaya ride knew of the ride's defects while they operated it at the Texas fair.
While the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission continues its investigation of the Texas accident, it has released a safety alert, warning inspectors and operators of potential dangers of Reverchon Himalaya rides. The warning is based on the findings of the Austin Police Department. It is expected that the Commission will release another warning when it has finished its own investigation.
Austin police have seized three of the Himalaya's cars and one safety bar as evidence, but have returned the rest of the ride to its owners. Police are investigating the accident as a case of criminally negligent homicide.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
The ride is manufactured by O.D. Hopkins Associates, Inc. of Contoocook, New Hampshire. Ride inspectors concluded that the ride was in good operating condition at the time of the accident and is "safe." Flume rides are generally not equipped with seat belts or restraint mechanisms.
The accident marks the first fatality in the park's six year history.
The 28-year-old operator was fired, arrested, and charged with violating a public health and safety law. He faces $1,000 and three years in prison if found guilty.
The operator claims that he was not planning to let the train make a second circuit, and that it was impossible for the operator of the ride to disengage the brake system of the Jack Rabbit.
The three victims, all riding in the first car of the train, were treated at a local hospital and later released.
According to the park's former ride director, many employees had complained to management about the problems with the ride's brakes. Operators and patrons complained that the cars would often pass through the brakes and come to a stop past the normal point of unloading, sometimes up to several times a day, leaving the operator no choice but to let the train make another circuit so that the passengers could be unloaded properly. Park officials confirmed that they had received such complaints, but that the ride was inspected by park maintenance workers in response to each complaint, and that no evidence of mechanical error had been found. Park management blamed ride operators for such incidents.
As a result of the park's response to the situation, nearly all of the park's ride supervisors and managers have quit their jobs, in addition to others including ride operators, security employees, and games managers.
The ride passed a park safety inspection after the accident. Clementon police also found the ride to be in safe operating condition.
The Jack Rabbit is the oldest operating roller coaster in the country.
Two passengers were boarding the ride as the tower collapsed. They were not injured in the accident. An unoccupied Tilt-A-Whirl ride was also damaged in the crash.
A metallurgical engineer concluded that the welded metal of the carbon steel tower did not adhere to the metal forming the base of the tower. State investigators concurred with his finding.
More than 10,000 people had ridden Steel Fear since it first opened on Memorial Day weekend this year. The defect existed thoughout this entire time.
The park's general manager claimed that the ride had been inspected daily, and that some parts of the ride were inspected up to four times each day.
The ride was manufactured by Rides 'R Us of Seymour, Tennessee.
This type of ride is responsible for at least one other accident in which one of the bungee cords disengaged from one tower, sending the car crashing into the other tower. It is not known whether any serious injuries were sustained in that accident.
The accident occurred when the child's head was pulled through the fiberglass seat and into a motor, which was located directly behind the girl's car. As the motor continued to operate, her hair was torn from her head, along with the right side of her scalp. The girl has undergone 4 surgeries since the accident, and is left with a scar on top of her head, nearly 10 inches long and 3 inches wide.
The ride was distributed by Zamperla, Inc.
Bonkers 19 closed in October of 1996 as a result of the bad publicity it received after this accident, which occurred on September 14, 1996, and another accident which happened on the same ride three months earlier. On June 22, 1996, a five year old girl was injured when her foot and left ankle scraped against the ride's track after the sixteen year old operator started the ride without notice. Stitches were required to close the wound she sustained. A settlement in that case is being negotiated.
Massachusetts state officials said that the park operated for months without a state permit, and that the use of a 16-year-old ride operator is in violation of state law.
Since the incident, CPSC has issued three safety alerts to states for inspection of the ride in critical areas. CPSC is now asking ride operators and inspectors to check eight specific components, including fastener pins, rubber shock absorbers and center spindles. About 25 Himalaya rides operate in the United States at both mobile carnivals and fixed-site parks. Reverchon manufactured the ride in 1984.
In a separate action, as a precautionary measure, CPSC also is urging all states to immediately inspect the mobile amusement rides known as Ranger, Kamikaze, or Hi-Flyer, in accordance with the manufacturer's recently issued safety bulletin. California Ride Safety Officials have discovered severe corrosion on some of the rides' shoulder restraints. If the shoulder restraint were to fail, riders could be severely injured or killed. There have been no reported incidents with these rides. About 17 Ranger, Kamikaze, and Hi-Flyer rides operate in the United States at both mobile carnivals and fixed-site parks. FarFabbri of Italy manufactured these rides from 1988 to 1992.
While CPSC has jurisdiction over the mobile rides that move from place to place, states and local communities are responsible for inspections and oversight. State safety inspectors will work with CPSC to ensure the rides operate safely.
While most states currently have some mandatory regulations or inspection program to ensure ride safety, the following states have no regulations and do not require that rides be inspected for safety: Alabama, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Utah and Vermont. The following states have insurance company or other private inspections, but do not require inspections by state or local regulators: Arizona, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Mexico, Tennessee and Texas.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
It is the first death at the exhibition in more than 40 years.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
The Fresno County Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident as a questionable death. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration will conduct its own investigation.
The passenger whose foot struck the man, a 28-year-old woman, broke her right leg and was hospitalized.
The victim's family has hired a lawyer, and will explore legal action against the park.
A similar accident occurred in Wildwood, New Jersey in 1995. A maintenance worker was killed when the foot of a passenger riding the Great Nor'Easter roller coaster struck him as he was walking underneath the ride's track. The Top Gun and Nor'Easter roller coasters feature cars which hang from an overhead track. Riders' legs hang below them during the entire course of the ride.
The ride had passed a state inspection just five days earlier.
The North Carolina Department of Labor is investigating the cause of the malfunction. The ride will be sent to a lab where its welding and metal fatigue will be checked.
In 1988, a seventeen year old girl was killed in a similar accident after a Monster ride malfunctioned at the Broward County Fair in Florida. The ride is similar to the Spider, however, it holds two additional cars on the end of its six arms. The arm carrying the victim's car snapped and, during its ten-foot fall to the ground, an adjacent arm, which was still whirling, crashed into the victim's car. The victim was struck in the back of the head. Six other riders were rushed to local hospitals, most of whom were treated for minor injuries.
The indictments state that all nine parties "knowingly and intentionally" caused the death of the victim. The grand jury concluded that the ride was operated faster than the specifications set forth by the ride's manufacturer, that the lap bar was not properly fastened to the car, that the safety latch was inadequate, that the ride had not been adequately inspected, and that the owners and operators of the ride allowed it to continue to operate even after they had been notified that parts of the ride were broken.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission inspected the ride earlier this year, after which they concluded that the car in which the victim was riding was defective.
Austin police also conducted their own investigation of the ride, and concluded that the girl's safety bar broke off from her car "at all three points of attachment." The lap bar was later found underneath the body of the victim. Police also concluded that "the use of cotter pins that were too small to keep the lap bar in place created an unsafe restraint system," and that "this was known by operators of the Himalaya ride prior to the incident."
"I'm totally shocked; this is totally ridiculous," says John Yeager, attorney for the Mertens.
Rosemary Lehmberg, first assistant district attorney for Travis County was pleased with the indictments.
"The grand jury believes that a company like B&B cannot come into this community and, for profit, expose our citizens to the hazards of that ride."
Those charged face 5 to 99 years in prison if convicted.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
Zyklon is owned and operated by Carol Stream Amusements.
State inspectors examined the ride after the accident and deemed it safe after the defective car had been removed. The ride re-opened within an hour of the accident and operated wihout incident on Sunday. Inspectors advised ride operators to leave a greater distance between each car during the ride to help prevent future accidents.
The designer and manufacturer of the ride were fined $20,000 each. The engineer who inspected the ride at Atlantic City was also fined $20,000.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
All three victims were hospitalized. The man was removed from life support about 11 hours after the accident. His wife survived, but suffered serious injury and underwent plastic surgery due to cuts to her face. The employee was also expected to make a full recovery.
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating further.
The fatality was the park's first since 1984.
In a separate accident, a 4-year-old boy suffered minor injuries after he fell from the park's carousel. He was also taken to a local hospital for observation.
CLICK HERE TO SEE RELATED STORIES |
Return to RideAccidents.com |