Two people were injured and brought to a hospital as some two-dozen others were hanging in the air for hours following a ride accident at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. A roller coaster—known as the Ninja coaster—hit a tree branch, which led to the ride’s front car dislodging. Four people suffered injuries, two of […]
Two people were injured and brought to a hospital as some two-dozen others were hanging in the air for hours following a ride accident at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park.
A roller coaster—known as the Ninja coaster—hit a tree branch, which led to the ride’s front car dislodging. Four people suffered injuries, two of them went to the hospital, and another two-dozen or so riders were hanging 20-30 feet in the air for hours, following the accident, according to ABC13 Eyewitness News.
“We were going across one turn and all of a sudden a loud noise happened,” one of the injured riders told KCAL-TV. “I ducked down just in time. A hard branch hit me in the head. I was there bleeding from my head, which was a little worse than this,” he said, pointing to a cut on his forehead.
The coaster crash occurred at about 5:30 p.m., said Michael Pittman, a Los Angeles County Fire Department dispatch supervisor. It took almost three hours before all 22 of the riders were finally rescued, wrote ABC13 Eyewitness News.
The cars are normally suspended under the track. At least one of the cars was hanging at an angle and was derailed at its front. Firefighters and park maintenance workers were outfitted in harnesses as they removed each of the riders individually through a network of track and trees, according to ABC13 Eyewitness News.
Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park’s website touts the Ninja as swooping through the trees to provide riders with a thrill. “As you shoot down the snake-like steel track you’ll grip the hillsides and blast through the trees swiftly, slicing through the landscape,” the ride’s online description indicates. “Ninja pivots with precision as you narrowly miss tagging land and water, whipping around at 55 miles per hour.”
The ride remains shut down during the accident investigation, said park spokeswoman, Sue Carpenter, in a statement. Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park is located in Sana Clarita’s Valencia area, some 25 miles north of Los Angeles, California, noted ABC13 Eyewitness News.
About one week ago, dozens of people were stranded more than 200 feet high on a revolving tower at SeaWorld, which is located in San Diego, California, for hours. A power failure stalled the ride, according to authorities, wrote ABC13 Eyewitness News.
Last summer, a woman was ejected from a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. She died, according to ABC13 Eyewitness News. Her death was ruled accidental; however, her family brought a lawsuit against Six Flags and the German company that built its coaster’s trains. Both companies denied any wrongdoing.
In September 2012 at Knott’s Berry Farm, a Southern California amusement park, the Windseeker ride broke down leaving riders hanging at 300 feet for more than three hours. There were no injuries in that accident, ABC13 Eyewitness News reported.