Kentucky Officials Investigating Amusement Ride After Girl's Feet Severed
State officials were investigating Friday how a 13-year-old girl's feet were severed while on an amusement ride in Louisville, Ky.
The girl was riding the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom when witnesses said a cable snapped.
"I seen the car go up. Then, like, the cable broke, I heard — pwchh — and I heard a lot of people screaming," Chris Stinette, who was on the ride when the accident occurred, told FOX 41.
A Six Flags spokeswoman sid the company has shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis, Gurnee, Illinois, and near Washington, D.C., as a safety precaution.
Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. also shut down and inspected drop tower rides Kings Island near Cincinnati; Canada's Wonderland, in Toronto; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.; Carowinds, in Charlotte, N.C.; and Great America in Santa Clara, Calif., company spokeswoman Stacy Frole said.
Investigators returned to the park Friday to examine the ride, said Bill Clary, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.
The Agriculture Department is responsible for inspecting amusement park rides in Kentucky. "We don't know the cause and we may never know the cause, honestly," Clary said.
Part of a broke cable was visible on the ride, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. Asked about the cable, McLean told the paper, "it would be speculation" to say how the ride malfunctioned or whether the cable contributed to the accident.
The girl, whose name was not released because she's a minor, was initially treated at University Hospital and her condition was unknown, according to park spokeswoman Carolyn McLean. Her condition was unavailable Friday morning.
The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops 154 feet, reaching a speed of 54 mph according to the park's Web site.
The ride has been shut down indefinitely while park and state officials investigate what caused the accident. The rest of the park remained open.
The ride opened in 1995 and was originally called the "Hellevator," the Courier-Journal reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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The above news story is from Fox News.
This is really sad. I can't imagine this. What if it was you? You get up in the morning and are all excited about going to an amusement park, and then while riding a thrill ride your feet get cut off? I just feel really sad for the girl. Now I'm kind of scared to ever ride any roller coaster/thrill ride where my feet are hanging free from a car again.
1 comment:
Hi Caroline,
I just saw you had another blog. I just went on my first real rollercoaster this month. I only went once, that's as much as a sleep deprived momma can do at this time. I did like it. But like you, I'm starting to have second thoughts.
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