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The accident happened June 13. The man, a 23-year-old maintenance worker, was trimming weeds underneath the wooden structure of the ride about a half-hour before the park opened. He was wearing plugs in his ears to protect them from the loud noise of the weed-cutting equipment he was using at the time, and was unable to hear an oncoming train which had been dispatched on a test run. He was struck by the train and killed.
In the wake of the accident, one of the victim's co-workers claimed that neither he nor the victim was given safety training by Lake Compounce before they began working as members of the park's grounds crew. Richard Bisi, spokesman for Lake Compounce, said that all employees are given safety training before they begin work at the park. But OSHA investigators concluded that the park "did not provide sufficient training to ensure that ground maintenance/keepers understood and possessed the skills required to safely work in and around rides and equipment."
The park was also cited for not following procedures to ensure employee safety during maintenance work. OSHA also noted that maintenance workers were not wearing proper protective clothing, and that there were no guardrails along the top of the roller coaster where workers walk to inspect the ride.
In January, 2000, OSHA fined the park $7,000 in connection with an August, 1999 accident which killed a 16-year-old employee. He was struck by a ride called the Tornado and dragged underneath it. He died a day later from his injuries. OSHA cited the park, saying that it failed to use "feasible and acceptable methods" to prevent employees from entering the area of ride rotation. The citation also said that Lake Compounce "did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards and that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees."
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The ride is owned and operated by Delta Shows.
"If the [seat belt] is not closed because there is an obese belly in front of it, and the seat belt can't be put around the waist and pulled tight, I don't know what to say. Basically, you build a restraint system suitable for most of the people who go to the park," says Intamin president Sandor Kernacs.
A report by the Orange County coroner's office reports that the woman weighed 292 pounds, had a 58-inch abdomen, and that her hips were about 50 inches around. Kernacs says that the seat belts on the ride only extend about 50 inches around.
The woman was thrown from the ride on September 21 and fell about 100 feet to her death.
The attorney representing the woman's family says that no one warned the victim that the ride was not designed for obese people.
Perilous Plunge remains closed as the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration continues its investigation.
The accident marks the third time since 1999 that a rider was ejected from an Intamin-made ride. On August 22, 1999, a 12-year-old boy was killed when he fell from Intamin's Drop Zone Stunt Tower freefall ride at Paramount's Great America theme park in Santa Clara, California. An investigation into his death yielded no explanation as to why he fell from the ride. Another accident on May 16, 1999 involved a 37-year-old man who was injured when he was ejected from Intamin's Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster at Six Flags Darien Lake theme park in Darien Center, New York. The man weighed over 300 pounds.
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Lancashire Police and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating.
The girl had no history of neck problems and met the height requirement for the ride.
Alabama's Mobile Register reports that the ride is owned and operated by Conklin Shows of Canada. It features a circular gondola which seats 24 passengers. The gondola rotates at 15 rpm, and is attached to a swinging arm which swings to an angle of 120 degees at heights of up to 60 feet. The ride is marketed as the fastest of its kind and a sign in front of the ride in Alabama indicated that it had been voted the fair's "scariest ride."
Howard Pringle, the president of Conklin Shows, told the Register that his company has operated the ride for the past few years without incident. He added that his company is "the number one-rated traveling carnival in the country," that the ride is "gentle" and safe, and that his company's safety record is "impeccable."
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The ride remains closed.
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Meanwhile, at least three passengers who were in the same boat as the victim say that ride operators did not check to make sure that the seat belts of riders on the left side of the boat had been fastened before the ride began. The victim was sitting on the left side of the boat.
Witnesses also claim that, at one point during the ride, the victim had turned around in her seat to talk to riders sitting in the row behind her. Intamin says that riders who are properly seated and secured by the ride's restraint system would not be able to turn around in their seats.
Susan Tierney, spokeswoman for Knott's Berry Farm, denies that operators were negligent.
"Our employees have assured us that they followed the procedures, and we completely stand behind them."
The fatality was the park's second this month. On September 1, a 20-year-old woman collapsed during her ride on the park's Montezuma's Revenge roller coaster and went into full cardiac arrest. She was rushed to a hospital where she died from a ruptured brain aneurysm hours later.
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Perilous Plunge was designed and manufactured by Intamin AG of Switzerland and opened in 2000. It is described by the park as the world's tallest and steepest water ride. It features a 121-foot-tall lift hill, followed by a 75-degree angle drop into a 115-foot-long water chute. The ride's three 24-passenger boats reach speeds of up to 50 miles per hour.
The woman fell more than 100 feet to her death, even though park officials say that her seat belt and lap bar "were in their correct and locked position" when her boat returned to the dock. It is believed that the victim fell out of her boat during its plunge down into the chute. She was treated at the scene and rushed to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death is multiple blunt force trauma.
The ride has been shut down. Officials from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Knott's Berry Farm, and the ride's manufacturer are investigating.
The fatality is the park's second this month. On September 1, a 20-year-old woman collapsed during her ride on the park's Montezuma's Revenge roller coaster and went into full cardiac arrest. She was rushed to a hospital where she died from a ruptured brain aneurysm hours later.
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The boy was fatally injured last Monday when a brake stopped the ride short, throwing his body forward. He died at a hospital an hour later. On Thursday, an autopsy confirmed that the child died from multiple blunt force trauma -- a direct result of the accident.
According to the Associated Press, a man was left permanently disabled after he rode the Flitzer at the Pennsylvania Fair in Hebron, Pennsylvania in 1993. The man sued Reithoffer Shows and the Pennsylvania Fair and, last December, a jury awarded him $1.1 million.
The accident happened Monday. The boy was riding a roller coaster called the Flitzer when a brake engaged and stopped the ride abruptly. The child was taken to a local hospital where he died during surgery, about an hour later.
Police are investigating the accident.
The ride is owned and operated by Reithoffer Shows.
The accident happened on a roller coaster called the Flitzer. Officials say that a brake stopped the ride abruptly.
An autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.
"There was no evidence found at the autopsy to suggest blunt force trauma or any other problems in the mechanics of the ride," said an OSHA spokeswoman.
The park has reopened Montezuma's Revenge with permission from OSHA.
Since June, two other women have died under similar circumstances. On June 2, a 28-year-old woman died from a ruptured brain aneurysm after collapsing on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California. On July 21, a 42-year-old woman complained of headaches after she rode an amusement ride at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, California. She was hospitalized and died from a ruptured brain aneurysm two days later. Reports from medical officials involved in those cases indicate that there is no conclusive evidence to indicate how the aneurisms burst.
In August, a non-profit, non-partisan group called The Brain Injury Association announced that it has begun an investigation into any possible link between brain injuries and amusement rides. The group will study more than 30 cases involving fatal and non-fatal brain or head injuries which are alleged to be the results of roller coasters and other amusement rides.
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The park says it will review its safety guidelines with its employees.
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The Orange County coroner's office says that the woman died from a ruptured brain aneurysm.
Since June, two other women have died under similar circumstances. On June 2, a 28-year-old woman died from a ruptured brain aneurysm after collapsing on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California. On July 21, a 42-year-old woman complained of headaches after she rode an amusement ride at Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, California. She was hospitalized and died from a ruptured brain aneurysm two days later. Reports from medical officials involved in those cases indicate that there is no conclusive evidence to indicate how the aneurisms burst.
The ride has been shut down pending an investigation.
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The ride features six arms which carry four cars each. The cars flip as the arms rotate about a central hydraulic arm, which lifts the entire ride to a vertical position sending riders as high as 60 feet into the air.
The ride's hydraulic pressure was eventually released, allowing the ride to return to its horizontal loading position.
State officials suspect that a computer error caused the mishap and are continuing their investigation.
Power Surge is manufactured by Zamperla of Italy.
The ride, owned and operated by M&D Leisure of Motherwell, Scotland, has been shut down, pending an investigation by police and the Health and Safety Executive.
A spokesman for M&D Leisure refused to release any information on the accident or the worker.
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For the complete report, see
http://www.cpsc.gov/library/amus2001.pdf.
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Initially, an OSHA spokesman stated that the ride triggered the rupture. That statement has been retracted, and OSHA now says that there is no evidence that the woman's injury was caused by the ride.
No autopsy was performed on the victim.
In June, a 28-year-old woman died after riding the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California. She, too, suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm. The Los Angeles Coroner's Office initially reported that the roller coaster triggered the rupture, but later retracted that statement, saying that "the exact mechanisms of causing the aneurysm to rupture are not known."
Dr. Hunt Batjer, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Northwestern University Medical School and chairman of the American Association of Neurosurgeons’ cerebral vascular surgery section said, "Brain hemorrhage... has been documented to occur during all activities of normal life including sleep."
This week, a non-profit, non-partisan group called The Brain Injury Association announced that it is beginning an investigation into any possible link between brain injuries and amusement rides. The group will study more than 30 cases involving fatal and non-fatal brain or head injuries which are alleged to be the results of roller coasters and other amusement rides.
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The accident is under investigation.
The have been at least six accidents involving Titanic inflatables in the last 14 months. On August 12, a 3-year-old boy was injured and knocked unconscious after falling from a Titanic ride at a fair in Scotland. On July 28, five people were injured when a Titanic ride collapsed at a fair in Salem, Oregon. On May 21, nine children were injured after a Titanic ride collapsed at a carnival in Charlotte, North Carolina. On May 20, three children were injured after a Titanic ride collapsed at a fair in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. On June 2, 2000, five people were injured after a Titanic ride collapsed at a carnival at in Alberta, Canada.
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The accident happened in the ride's loading station as one train was preparing to be dispatched and the other, which was returning to unload passengers, failed to stop. The crash injured 22 people.
After a two-week investigation, Six Flags and Intamin AG, the ride's manufacturer, have concluded that an air supply line ruptured, disabling the ride's main braking system and preventing the ride's back up system from engaging fully. They say that the second train was slowed to just under 20 miles per hour when it struck the first train.
The air supply system has been replaced with steel reinforced lines, and the ride has passed numerous tests and inspections since the new system was installed.
The ride reopened today.
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The ride, called the Twizzler, is manufactured by Wisdom Industries of Sterling, Colorado and is one of only two in operation. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs says that an arm holding four cars broke off the ride after a weld broke. Those cars were then struck by another set of four cars which came spinning into them.
The cause of the weld failure is under investigation.
The ride is owned and operated Wizard's Festival of Fun of Laurel Springs, New Jersey.
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Three of the victims were treated at the scene and two others have been hospitalized with neck injuries.
The accident happened at the Presthaven Sands Funfair in Gronant, North Wales. The Health and Safety Executive and North Wales police are investigating.
The ride has been shut down.
The ride, called the Star Dancer, is owned and operated by Butler Amusements of Fairfield, California. Its cars circle around a 100-foot-tall tower as a vertical lifting mechanism carries them to the top then lowers them back down to the ground.
The ride had been experiencing mechanical problems and workers shut it down for maintenance just 15 minutes before the explosion.
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Twenty-two passengers were taken to local hospitals, all with minor neck, back and facial injuries. In addition, two or three riders were knocked unconscious in the crash.
The ride has been shut down pending an investigation by state and local authorities. Park officials and representatives from the ride's manufacturer, Intamin AG of Switzerland, are also investigating.
The ride was shut down, but was reopened within an hour after the girl's car was removed and the ride passed a safety inspection.
The Hard Rock is a high-speed thrill ride featuring spinning cars attached to several arms which rotate around the ride's center, which lifts upward during the ride.
The Health and Safety Executive is investigating.
Dick Chance, the president of Kansas-based Chance Rides which manufactures the Chaos ride, told the Wichita Eagle that his company has finished its own investigation into the collapse, and that he is convinced his company is not to blame for the accident.
"Our initial impression is that nothing we've found leads us to think there was a defect."
Chance has also assured all owners of Chaos rides that the products are safe.
Michigan's Adventure and its parent company, Cedar Fair, are still investigating, along with the state. State officials also said that an outside team of inspectors would likely be called in to join the probe. It has been reported that investigators are focusing on the bolts which secure the ride's platform to the center hub.
The accident happened on Monday. The ride's circular platform, which holds 18 cars, somehow disengaged from the ride's hydraulic support arm and crashed to the ground. Thirty-one people suffered minor injuries.
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There are 52 Chaos rides operating throughout the world. Chance Rides, the manufacturer of Chaos, says it is alerting all ride owners of the possible dangers of the ride.
The Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services is investigating the accident. Park officials say that they expect to know the cause of the accident by Wednesday.
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The ride, called Chaos, is manufactured by Chance Rides of Wichita, Kansas. It features 18 cars which border a circular platform. The cars, each of which seat two riders, flip through 360 degrees as the platform lifts, tilts and rotates. It has operated at Michigan's Adventure since 1996.
There were 33 passengers on the ride at the time it collapsed. Most of them suffered only minor injuries.
Witnesses say they heard a cracking sound, then watched the ride stop and crash to the ground. Apparently, the ride was spinning as it toppled over, and briefly rolled along the ground like a wheel until it came to rest.
Rescue teams used cranes to stabilize the ride, then worked to free the riders, who were trapped underneath locked over-the-shoulder restraints. Some riders were trapped for nearly five hours.
The accident is under investigation.
The accident happened on July 1, 2000. The boy drowned in Lake Compounce after riding one of the park's water slides. The slide, called Lake Plunge, carries riders sitting upon inner tubes through twists and turns and then sends them into the lake. Then, riders must paddle over to a dock, which sits in water about 10-12 feet deep. The boy fell off his raft as it entered the lake. Lifeguards found him a half-hour later, curled up in a fetal position at the bottom of the lake, beyond the dock, 15 feet below the surface. He never regained consciousness, and died one week later.
"It was an accident that did not have to happen had they taken basic precautions," says the lawyer representing the mother. "The things they did and failed to do cost the child his life."
The lawsuit claims that the park should have required children to use life jackets, and that the boy should not have been allowed to ride the slide because he was not tall enough to use the ride safely.
While a spokesman for the park denies the allegations, a police investigation into the cause of the drowning concluded that the park and its employees did contribute to the child's death. Police also said that the boy's father was partly to blame for the accident.
The lawsuit was filed in Hartford Superior Court.
Since 1999, more people have died at Lake Compounce than at any other amusement park in the United States. In August 1999, an employee was killed after a ride struck him. The Connecticut Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited and fined the park for violations of safety regulations, saying that the park "did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards and that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees." Last month, another worker was struck by a roller coaster and killed. That accident is still under investigation.
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The ride, a reverse-bungee catapult ride called the Texas Blastoff, consists of two 120-foot-high steel towers with a bungee cord connected to each. The cords are stretched toward the ground where they are attached to a caged steel vehicle in which riders are seated. The cords are then released from the vehicle, sending the riders on a high-speed vertical launch into midair.
The riders were injured after one cord disengeged, leaving their vehicle swinging aimlessly in midair. They were then left stranded about 70 feet high until their vehicle was lowered back to the ground.
One of the riders received 13 stitches in his leg.
Similar rides have been banned in some areas for safety reasons.
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The ride has been shut down.
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The state has given the park permission to reopen the ride.
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The accident happened when one of the trains failed to stop at the end of its run, continued through the station, then started up the lift hill, where the other train was being carried to the top. The two trains collided about halfway up the 55-foot-high lift hill.
In a statement issued today, the state Department of Safety said, "It appears that the operator activating the brakes on the second train may have erred, for the second train rolled through the station and caught the incline chains."
The park agrees, saying that the employee released a brake which should have been engaged.
The ride reopened Friday night, after the Department inspected it and found no mechanical problems.
Park officials say that the ride will operate with only one train until the state completes its investigation of the accident and all ride operators are recertified.
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Although the coroner’s report claimed the ride was a “last straw” event, Dr. Hunt Batjer, chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at Northwestern University Medical School and chairman of the American Association of Neurosurgeons’ cerebral vascular surgery section said, “Brain hemorrhage, as happened with [the victim], has been documented to occur during all activities of normal life including sleep.”
In addition, findings of the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration released June 13, 2001, stated that "the Department of Coroner has no evidence that the triggering stress [the victim] might have experienced at the amusement park was significantly different from other common stressful events that can trigger the rupture of an aneurysm. Consequently, the Department of the Coroner is not aware of any medical information or findings in the case of [the victim] indicating that the roller coaster she rode is unsafe for the general public.”
“We were confident the LA coroner’s report would confirm that a roller coaster did not cause an aneurysm,” Del Holland, vice president and general manager, Six Flags Magic Mountain, said. “As we have said before, literally millions of people have safely ridden Goliath and we expect millions more to do the same.”
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Five people suffered minor injuries and were taken to a local hospital.
The ride has been shut down. The accident is under investigation.
The carnival is operated by Windy City Amusements of St. Charles, Illinois.
The ride has been fixed and reopened.
Early reports indicate that passengers were panicking, but that there were no injuries.
Eight people were taken to a local hospital, where they were treated and released.
The ride has been shut down.
The ride opened in 1986. It is disassembled at the end of each operating season, and reassembled at the beginning of each season.
The park has been given permission to reopen the ride.
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The bill also gives the state's Department of Community Affairs the power to levy punitive fines against the makers of defective rides. In addition, ride owners must now carry $1 million in liability coverage per accident -- that amount is up from $100,000 in coverage per operator.
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The carnival operator, 21st Century Amusements, denies responsibility for the accident and says that its insurer will handle the case.
State investigators inspected the ride immediately after the accident and found nothing mechanically wrong with it. They allowed the ride to reopen immediately.
In 1999, Riverside Park was owned by Premier Parks, which eventually changed its name to Six Flags Inc. after buying the Six Flags theme park chain. The park is now known as Six Flags New England.
The action was filed in Worcestor Superior Court in Worcestor, Massachusetts.
Six Flags declined to comment on the case.
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The ride reopened later in the day.
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
The accident is under investigation. The park plans to reopen the slide on Friday.
Rhino Rally opened in May. It was shut down after the accident and will remain closed indefinitely.
The children's injuries included a broken wrist, cuts and bruises.
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The ride was in operation at the time it collapsed.
Investigators will determine whether the weight of the riders was evenly balanced and whether the base of the ride was properly secured to the ground.
At least one child was taken to a medical center as a precautionary measure.
The ride, called the Little Eagle, is closed, pending an inspection by the South Carolina Labor and Licensing Department.
The woman died from severe head and spinal injuries she sustained in the crash. Three other people were also injured, including one man who suffered a broken arm.
Health and safety officials are investigating.
The ride opened in May.
In June 1999, Disneyland settled a similar lawsuit with another woman who claimed she suffered a brain injury as a result of riding Indiana Jones. The details of that settlement were also kept secret.
Court documents show that over 300 people have reported being injured on Indiana Jones in the past three years.
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The sensor has been replaced and the ride has been reopened.
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On June 2, a 28-year-old woman collapsed during a ride on Goliath and later died. The cause of her death is under investigation.
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A statement from Lake Compounce said that the train failed to stop on its return run to the station, passed through the station, then continued partially up the initial lift hill. The momentum of the train then carried it back through the station and through an inversion, after which it stalled. The train came to rest in a relatively level area of track, between two inversions.
Some of the riders were trapped for nearly 2 hours. None of the passengers was injured.
The incident comes just one day after an accident on another roller coaster at the park killed an employee. On Wednesday, a grounds worker was killed after he was struck by the Boulder Dash roller coaster while working underneath the ride. That accident is under investigation.
Zoomerang is closed pending repairs, and Boulder Dash is closed pending an investigation by police, the state fire marshal, the park, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
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"They never told us to get out," said one co-worker.
"I don't know why they didn't ask us [to move]," said another co-worker. "Usually they ask us to move."
The accident happened at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday morning on the park's Boulder Dash roller coaster, which reaches speeds of more than 60 miles per hour. The 23-year-old employee was struck by one of the ride's trains as he was trimming weeds underneath the wooden structure of the ride. He was wearing plugs in his ears to protect them from the noise of the loud weed-cutting equipment he was using at the time, and was unable to hear the oncoming train rolling toward him. Authorities pronounced the man dead at the scene.
One of the victim's co-workers also claimed that neither he nor the victim was given safety training by Lake Compounce before they began working as members of the park's grounds crew a month ago.
"They just told me how to deal with customers, in case a customer gets mad," said the man to a reporter from Fox's WTIC-TV of Hartford.
Richard Bisi, spokesman for Lake Compounce, said that all employees are given safety training before they begin work at the park.
Lake Compounce opened as usual Wednesday morning, a half-hour after the accident.
Boulder Dash is closed pending an investigation by police, the state fire marshal's office, the park, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
"We're ruling nothing out," said a state police spokesman.
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The Southington, Connecticut police department, the state fire marshal's office, and Lake Compounce are investigating the accident.
The fatality is the park's third in less than two years.
On July 1, 2000, a 6-year-old boy fell off his inner tube while riding the park's Lake Plunge water slide. Lifeguards found him a half-hour later, curled up in a fetal position at the bottom of the lake, beyond the dock, 15 feet below the surface of the water. He never regained consciousness, and died one week later. A police investigation later concluded that the park, its employees, and the boy's parent all shared the blame for the child's death.
On August 21, 1999, a 16-year-old park employee died from injuries he suffered from an accident on the park's Tornado ride a day earlier. He was struck by the ride and dragged underneath it. The incident led the state's Occupational Safety and Health and Administration (OSHA) to cite and fine Lake Compounce, saying that the park failed to use "feasible and acceptable methods" to prevent employees from entering the area of ride rotation. The citation also said that Lake Compounce "did not furnish employment and a place of employment which were free from recognized hazards and that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees."
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The riders were exposed to the fumes in a tunnel in which curtains drip water onto passengers. Park officials believe that the curtains may have held the chlorine fumes in the tunnel.
The curtains have been removed from the attraction.
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Several adjacent rides were closed as firefighters worked to put the fire out and no one was injured.
On July 29, 1999, a raft flipped over on the same ride because it bumped into another raft. It was determined that ride operators were allowing boats to travel too close together.
The accident marks the fifth time in a little more than two years that a raft has capsized on a river rapids ride in the United States. At least 23 people have been injured in these accidents, including one person who was killed.
Wild River Gorge has been shut down pending an investigation.
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A park spokesman has called the death "a very unfortunate occurrence."
Initially, the state gave the park permission to continue operation of the ride, but after the coroner's report was released, the park was ordered to shut the ride down. The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
6/4 STATEMENT FROM THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CORONER:
On June 3, 2001, the Department of Coroner performed an examination on Ms. Pearl Santos who was reportedly found
unresponsive after riding an attraction at a local amusement park on June 2, 2001. The Senior Deputy Medical Examiner has
ordered additional testing and studies. The additional testing includes a toxicological screen and neuropathological studies. An
earlier release of information regarding the cause of death was premature. Information that the attraction was directly responsible
for the death was also premature. The final cause, mode, and manner of death have not been finalized. Until all testing and studies
have been completed, the cause of death is DEFERRED. The autopsy report will not be available for release until the case is
closed. It is estimated that the case will close in 4 to 6 weeks once all test results have been received.
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A preliminary investigation indicates that the woman was in good health, had no history of health problems, and that the ride was operating normally.
Goliath is a 255-foot-high steel roller coaster which opened last year. The 3-minute ride reaches speeds of up to 85 miles per hour.
Six Flags closed the ride in response to the incident, but reopened it hours later with permission from the state of California.
Authorities have scheduled an autopsy to determine the cause of death.
The passengers suffered only minor injuries.
The ride, a looping roller coaster named Boomerang Coast to Coaster, has been shut down. Fiesta Texas inspectors and officials from the ride's manufacturer are investigating.
Nine children were injured when the ride collapsed, none seriously.
In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, the owner of Master Rental says that he was unaware that his equipment was regulated by the state of North Carolina. He also refused to disclose how long his company has been operating in Asheville.
"We're complying with authorities. I can't say anything else."
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Hook's Lagoon is described as a "water playground area" of the Six Flags Hurricane Harbor water park, which features water slides, lagoons, waterfalls, and other similar attractions. In August, an 11-year-old girl nearly drowned in Hook's Lagoon when she was sucked into an underwater drainage pipe which was covered by a broken grate. She was underwater for nearly four minutes before being rescued.
Investigators from the Ohio Department of Agriculture reported that the pumps were draining water at twice the rate specified by the ride's designer and manufacturer. The park has filed a lawsuit against the state, disputing its findings, but says that it will keep the section of the ride closed until their appeal of the state's findings is resolved in court.
The Texas Senate had already approved the bill.
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The ride, called the Titanic, is owned by Master Rental of Asheville, North Carolina.
The North Carolina Department of Labor is investigating the accident.
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The Nova Scotia Department of Labor is investigating.
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The ride remains closed while officials from the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Six Flags, and Chance Rides, the manufacturer of the ride, investigate.
An Austin, Texas court accepted Gill's plea, and fined his company $30,000. In addition, Gill pleaded guilty on his own behalf to a misdemeanor charge and was fined $100.
When Gill inspected the Himalaya ride on March 9, 1998, he found that four of the ride's cars had broken locking mechanisms and another car had a broken seat. He ordered that those cars not be used, but allowed the ride to open.
Lane's safety bar broke on March 19, 1998, the same day that three other passengers reported another broken safety bar after they had ridden in another car. In addition, police investigators found two other cars on the ride with no locking devices on them at all. They also witnessed three more locking devices break off of cars when they went to operate the ride after the accident to test speeds. For a complete description of the condition of the Himalaya, click here.
Gill remains a member of the board of directors of the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials and was given the organization's "Man of the Century" award last year for his "dedication to ride safety."
Gill's company is no longer in business.
Gill is now employed by Farrow Shows of Jackson, Mississippi.
B&B Amusements, which also pled guilty to manslaughter charges late last year, still operates amusement rides.
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Police say that a steel axle on one of the cars broke toward the end of the ride, causing the wheels of the car to derail. The riders were injured when the car stopped abruptly, throwing them forward into a safety device. They were left dangling about 25 feet off the ground for some time, until they were rescued by a crane.
The riders suffered serious injuries including hipbone fractures, and are not expected to recover for six months.
The accident is under investigation.
The park remains closed.
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OSHA has ordered the park to implement a new system for employees to use to signal to each other in a "specific, consistent, and unambiguous" way, indicating that there are no people or obstacles in the path of the train. Park officials say that such a system has already been implemented.
The park was not cited or fined.
In their attempt to flee the area, many of Phantasialand's 20,000 visitors dodged burning sections of the mostly wooden structure, which blew across the park, landing up to 300 feet away.
"We were running. We didn't know if huge burning walls would fall on us. It was mass panic," said one eyewitness, the Associated Press reports.
Many people jumped fences to escape the park, which was later completely evacuated, and one section of park fencing had even been torn down.
"We just barely avoided a catastrophe," said Cologne, Germany police director Winrich Granitzka.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined, but one park spokesman says that because the ride's emergency brakes activated, there is reason to believe that a cable fire in one of the ride's cars may have triggered the blaze. Experts say that no signs of arson have been found.
The ride, manufactured by Schwarzkopf of Germany, is also known as the Bobsleigh. It was built in 1975.
In 1996, another roller coaster fire at Phantasialand injured 5 people.
The park, one of Europe's largest, will remain closed until the weekend of May 12 and 13, when it will reopen with a reduced ticket price.
The California Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.
Firefighters used ladder trucks to rescue the riders.
No one was injured, however one woman, who was pregnant, was sent to a hospital for observation.
Anaheim fire department officials support the plan, which could go into effect as early as next week.
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Investigators are determining whether the restraining bar unlocked during the ride, and whether it had been locked before the ride started.
The ride is owned by UK Fun Fair.
The action comes in response to the 1998 Himalaya ride accident at the Austin-Travis Livestock Show and Rodeo. Fifteen-year-old Leslie Lane was killed when her safety bar broke off her car. The owner of the ride, B&B Amusements of Yuma, Arizona, pled guilty to manslaughter charges in connection with the accident. B&B Amusements is the first company in American history to be held criminally responsible for negligence resulting in the death of a rider. The company which inspected the ride, Bob G. Gill & Associates, still faces manslaughter charges.
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The bill, H.R. 1488, would restore the jurisdiction of the National Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) over amusement park rides operating in the United States. Markey calls the bill "a modest restoration of safety to all parkgoers."
At present, the CPSC only has jurisdiction over carnival rides which move from state to state. The CPSC used to regulate all ride operation, including that of fixed-site amusement park rides, however, in 1981, Congress exempted all fixed-site amusement rides from federal regulation.
"It is shocking to realize that one-third of all roller coasters in this country are never inspected by any public safety official at all," said Markey.
"To me, it is inexcusable that when someone dies or is seriously injured on these rides, there is no system in place to ensure that the ride is investigated, the causes determined, and the flaws fixed, not just on that ride, but on every similar ride in every other state."
Markey's legislation would give the CPSC the authority to set standards for rides, perform inspections, investigate accidents, recall unsafe equipment, impose civil penalties, and would appropriate $500,000 annually to enable the CPSC to accomplish those tasks. The CPSC supports the legislation.
Markey had submitted the legislation to the U.S. House in the last congressional session, but it never made its way to the House floor due to time constraints. There were 47 Democrats and 6 Republicans who joined Markey in co-sponsoring the bill last year.
The amusement industry opposes any federal attempts to improve safety at theme parks, and is fighting against Markey's legislation.
Organizations in support of the National Amusement Ride Safety Act include: the Consumer Federation of America, the Consumers Union, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the National SAFE KIDS Campaign, the American Council on Consumer Awareness, and various consumer and public safety councils across the country.
The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
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Officials from the North Carolina Department of Labor are investigating the accident.
The ride is owned by Smoky Mountain Amusements of Robbinsville, North Carolina.
Officials from the North Carolina Elevator and Amusement Device Inspection Bureau are investigating the accident and say that they are unaware of any other similar incidents.
The carnival owners, who also say they have never heard of any similar cases, have agreed to pay all of the girl's medical expenses.
Officials say that a strong, freak gust of wind lifted the ride about 10 feet into the air, and that they will focus their investigation on the cables used to secure the ride to the ground.
Twelve other people were also injured in the accident, including 11 children, five of whom remain hospitalized.
The South Australian Workplace Services department is issuing an alert to other amusement ride operators, warning them of the potential dangers that changes in weather conditions can have on inflatable rides.
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The girl died at the company's Hi-Speed Race Karts track in Palatine, Illinois. The car in which she and her 21-year-old mother were riding collided with another car which had spun out directly in front of them. The girl was riding in between her mother's legs at the time of the accident. When the two cars collided, she was crushed between the steering wheel and her mother's body. None of the go-carts had seat belts.
The Labor Department successfully argued that the company failed to report several injuries at its tracks in violation of state law, and that last summer's incident was not reported until a week after the accident. Illinois law requires that such injuries be reported within 24 hours.
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The OSHA investigation found that the ride was operated with openings between the edge of the catwalk and the edge of the ride surface, and along the ride surface itself, and that employees who were working inside the ride could fall through the openings into moving machine parts or onto parts of the ride support structure.
OSHA also cited the owners for failing to properly train employees in the use of fire extinguishers and "in the safe operation and procedures associated with working on and/or near the moving cars or other hazardous machinery of the ride."
The owners were also cited for blocking exits, blocking exit signs, partially obstructing the ride path and catwalk areas, improperly storing combustible materials, electrical hazards, and for using room partitions that were not made from flame retardant materials.
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The ride consists of a movie theater with an IMAX screen and 90 seats, which lift and move as riders watch a movie filled with the sights and sounds of hang-gliding. The incident is being blamed on an electrical amplifier, which is connected to the ride control panel located in the basement of the building. The amplifier unit overheated, sending smoke through the ventilation system and into the theater, triggering off a fire alarm.
The riders, who were previewing the ride before its official opening on Thursday, were not injured.
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The state ordered the park to review proper ride operating procedures with its employees before it reopened the ride. Disneyland spokesman Ray Gomez says that procedures were reviewed, and the ride has been reopened.
Disneyland ride operators were also faulted for a September 22 accident on the Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin ride which left a 4-year-old severely brain damaged. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) determined that the boy's lap bar was "probably" not fully lowered when he fell out of the car, and that ride operators failed to properly seat the boy in the car.
Disney's safety policy for the Roger Rabbit ride states that children should be seated on the outside of each car, where there is no opening. Instead, the boy was seated on the inside of the car, next to an unprotected opening which allows passengers to get in and out of the car. In its report, OSHA concluded "the most likely explanation for the accident is that the child fell through the entrance to the car." The child ended up falling out of his car, then got pinned underneath a trailing car after it struck him.
The Roger Rabbit ride remains closed, pending the park's implementation of state-ordered safety modifications.
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The victim was taken to an area hospital where she was treated for head and neck pain, and possibly a concussion.
Disneyland has reported the accident to the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the ride has been shut down pending a safety evaluation.
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The victim, who was working as the train's conductor, was freed by firefighters who used the Jaws of Life to lift the train off of him. He was then airlifted to UCI Medical Center in Orange, California where he was hospitalized with multiple fractures to one leg, and a fractured foot on his other leg. While his injuries are serious, a hospital spokeswoman says they are not life-threatening, and that the man is not in danger of losing a leg.
In 1996, a 56-year-old man was killed while working as the conductor of the Calico Railroad. He was crushed to death while trying to separate two of the ride's steam-engine train cars.
The Calico Railroad is now closed, pending an investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
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The commission says it wants to determine whether the non-mechanical playground equipment used in the Tom Sawyer Island attraction is safe.
Under new state law, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) has the authority to investigate most accidents at amusement parks, however, it only has jurisdiction over mechanical rides. Since the Tom Sawyer Island attraction is not a mechanical amusement ride as defined by law, OSHA does not have the authority to investigate.
The CPSC says that while it does not have the authority to investigate amusement ride accidents at theme parks, it does have jurisdiction over most other devices, including playground equipment like that used in the Tom Sawyer Island attraction. The commission maintains that it has the authority to recall the equipment if they deem it unsafe.
"If it's not an amusement ride, we can investigate," says Jane Francis, spokeswoman for the CPSC.
"Our concern is whether a piece of equipment is safe. If there's a defect with the equipment, we need to look into it."
Disneyland says that its own inspection of the equipment showed that everything was operating normally, and park officials are questioning whether the CPSC has jurisdiction to investigate the accident.
Disneyland has decided to close the Fort Wilderness section of the Tom Sawyer Island attraction during the investigation.
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Park officials have inspected the equipment and say that everything was operating properly at the time of the accident.
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The fair runs through January 28.
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Investigators concluded that the accident was caused by mechanical failure.
One woman, whose two children who were trapped in the accident, told reporters, "I'm still kind of upset with Great America. Still to this day we have not received an apology of any kind. It would have felt better in my heart if they had truly felt sorry for what happened."
The park and its attorneys declined to comment on the case.
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On September 22, the boy, now 5, fell from his car, then got pinned underneath a trailing car after it struck him.
An investigation by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) concluded that park employees did not properly seat the child in the car, and that the child's safety bar was "probably" not lowered completely. OSHA has also deemed the ride unsafe, and has ordered the park to make safety modifications to the ride before it can reopen.
The park denies any responsibility for the accident.
Speaking about the park's response to the accident, Thomas Girardi, the attorney representing the family, told reporters: "The only thing they're going to understand is a lawsuit and a jury telling them that they owe this family."
The boy suffers from severe brain damage and remains hospitalized.
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