Woman dies on rollercoaster ride
A woman is dead and seven others have been injured in accidents at amusement parks in the US on Friday.
In the first incident, a woman riding a rollercoaster at a Six Flags amusement park in North Texas has died.
Those who witnessed the tragedy on Friday evening (local time) said the woman fell from a ride that is billed as the tallest steel-hybrid coaster in the world.
The accident happened at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington.
Park spokeswoman Sharon Parker confirmed that a woman died while riding the Texas Giant rollercoaster but did not specify how she was killed.
However, witnesses told local media outlets that the woman fell.
“She goes up like this. Then when it drops to come down, that’s when it (the safety bar) released and she just tumbled,” said Carmen Brown.
Ms Brown said she was waiting in line for the ride when the accident happened.
Six Flags expressed sadness over the death and said it was temporarily closing the section of the park around the accident site.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends during this difficult time,” the park’s statement said.
The Texas Giant reaches 14 storeys high and has a drop of 79 degrees and a bank of 95 degrees. It can carry up to 24 riders.
The ride opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster but underwent a $10 million renovation in 2010 to install steel-hybrid rails before reopening in 2011.
Ms Brown said she was next in line behind the woman and saw her being strapped into her seat next to her son.
“We heard her screaming. We were like, ’Did she just fall?’”
Arlington police Sgt Christopher Cook, the department spokesman, referred all questions to Ms Parker.
In another amusement park accident on Friday, a boat on an Ohio thrill ride accidentally rolled backwards down a hill and flipped over in water when the ride malfunctioned, injuring all seven people on it.
Operators stopped the Shoot the Rapids water ride after the accident, which occurred on the ride’s first hill, the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, said.
Witnesses told the Sandusky Register newspaper the boat flipped on its side or upside down.
Matthew Orr, of Euclid, was at the park and said people were belted into the boat and were trapped.
“We jumped in and helped them get out,” he told the newspaper. “If we didn’t help, I don’t even know what would have happened.”
In 1999, a 28-year-old Arkansas woman drowned and 10 other passengers were injured when a raft-like boat on the Roaring Rapids ride at Six Flags overturned in up to 1m of water about 60m from the end of the ride.
Six Flags Over Texas opened in 1961 as the first amusement park in the Six Flags system. It is 27km west of downtown Dallas.
