SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On Friday night, an accident related to a roller-coaster took place that left 2 individuals injured from which one sustained life-threatening injuries. The location of the accident was California’s Great America amusement park in Santa Clara.
According to park officials, a park employee was rushed to the hospital after the accident as he sustained serious traumatic injuries after being hit by a train returning to the station of the Flight Deck coaster. The employee was admitted there for treatment.
The park employee got into the way of the roller coaster in an attempt to get back the cell phone of an individual who was riding in the roller coaster.
At the same time, the person riding the roller coaster said that he sustained a hand injury for which he was transferred to the hospital. Further information about his injury was not known.
Gustavo Ceja told, “It was the maintenance guy, he was trying to get something from the floor, I think somebody dropped a cell phone and then when we were turning to the right, I saw the maintenance guy getting hit by front of the first line of the Flight Deck. He got dragged almost like 10 to 15 feet from the entrance almost to the exit”.
Kara Underwood said, “That’s horrible and I’m so sorry for their families, that’s tragic”.
Another individual said, “It makes me not want to ride the roller coaster, it really does”.
The incident is under investigation and the roller coaster will remain closed until the investigation is completed but the park officials said that the roller coaster is in a perfect state to work, there is no cause to make people think that the accident happened due to any fault in the roller coaster. A statement was issued by the management of Great America in which it was written, “Safety is at the heart of everything we do and remains our highest priority. We are working closely with local and state authorities to investigate this matter”.
Few years back, the same roller coaster was involved in an accident due to which Renato Robles died as he climbed over a security fence to get his wife’s hat and was hit in the head by a rider; the name of the coaster was “Top Gun”.
The accident that happened on Friday was the same day when a 10-year-old girl was rushed to a hospital by air as she was found passed out after riding a roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Southern California. Next day, no information was available on the condition of the girl and it was also not confirmed whether the issue happened due to the ride or not. The incident happened in the Amusement park in Valencia and the park officials told that the girl just fainted and was breathing when she was rushed to the hospital.
According to the Six Flags Magic Mountain spokeswoman, Sue Carpenter, the speed at which the roller coaster rides is 55 mph and its height is 113-foot. After a short period of time, the roller coaster was made ready to operate again.
The authorities told that on the East Coast, 3 kids sustained non-life threatening injuries in an accident in which a carnival roller coaster was involved in Waterville, Maine. A report by New England Cable News showed that the kids who were injured were those who rode in the “Dragon Wagon.” One kid was rushed to the hospital.
News Source: www.ABC7News.com
