Twelve children and one adult were injured at a fair in Connecticut when a carnival-style swing ride broke, sending riders crashing to the ground.
The Zumur swing ride at Norwalk Oyster Festival apparently lost power while the riders were airborne, according to Norwalk police. The sudden loss of momentum caused seats on the ride, in which people sit in open chairs suspended by cables from metal arms, to slam into each other, throwing the children 15ft to the ground.
One of the children was hospitalised, but none of the injuries sustained was believed to be serious, Norwalk Police Chief Tom Kulhawik said. Some of the children's parents were watching as the ride malfunctioned.
All carnival rides at the festival were shut down for an inspection by the state fire marshall's office and state police but later reopened.
The Norwalk Seaport Association, which sponsors the festival, said the organisation was "co-operating fully with the investigating authorities". "Our first and only concern is for the wellbeing of those involved and their families," it said in a statement.
Stewart Amusement of Trumbull, Connecticut, which operates the ride, posted a message on its website saying a preliminary inquiry into the accident found the Zumur ride "suffered a mechanical malfunction".
The 3rd UK funfair accident in just one week. A full scale emergency response took place in Skegness on 30 August 2011, with convoys of emergency vehicles and two air ambulance helicopters. There were 22 people onboard a SurfRider funfair ride at the time of the accident. There are a number of “back and neck” injuries, caused when a passenger gondola struck the base frame of the ride. While most of the group escaped unharmed, a woman was rushed to Pilgrim Hospital, in Boston, Lincs, last night suffering life threatening head injuries. A further six people were taken to hospital. Fire crews were forced to use ropes to rescue the group, including adults and children. The pleasure beach was closed ahead of investigations to establish the cause of the incident.
The Health and Safety Executive were informed and will attend the site on 31 August 2011 (the next day). At the time of writing it is unclear what caused the incident.
There have been suggestions that the ride has undergone recent maintenance work. One witness said that on the morning some gearbox work had been carried out on the ride.
Jimmy Botton, the amusement park owner, reportedly said that the area was closed while investigations were carried out on Tuesday night. “It looks like the teeth on one of the main cogs disintegrated, what should be horizontal is now 90 degrees,” he said. “My job is to make people happy, I take this very seriously.”
The Surf Rider is one of the main rides at the amusement park and is visible across the seafront when in operation. It features a large ‘beam’, which rotates around a central point. During the operation of the ride these gondolas always remain horizontal in relation to the ground. One of the gondolas tilted while the ride was operating and struck the ride base.
31.8.2011 - All seven of those taken to hospital are now reported to have been discharged. Mr Botton the operator of the funfair site has said that after the ride is made structurally safe it will be removed, never to return.
1.9.2011 - (Above photograph from Skegness Standard) The Surf Rider ride was taken down, seen underneath the blue tarpaulin, ahead of the amusement park being re-opened following a Health & Safety Executive on-site investigation.
The 2nd UK funfair accident in just one week. A woman and her four-year-old granddaughter are being treated for leg injuries after an accident on a sea-front log flume ride. The pair, who were visiting Bridlington from South Yorkshire, are both in Hull Royal Infirmary. The 58-year-old woman was airlifted from the Bayside Amusement Park on Sunday afternoon when she and the child were apparently “flipped out” of the Jungle River ride after a car stopped unexpectedly on a steep descent toward a water pool. Her injuries were said to be severe but not life-threatening. Police have confirmed that rumours the woman had to have her leg amputated were not true. Her granddaughter was originally taken to Scarborough Hospital but moved to Hull on Monday.
A Health and Safety Executive investigation into the cause of the accident has begun. The log flume was closed and sealed off by Police tape.
It is reported the funfair had previously been asked by Bridlington Town Council to be moved to a more suitable place.
Park owner Michael Harrison, said his first thoughts were about those who had been injured and he hoped they made a speedy recovery. “There is a police and Health and Safety Executive investigation as to how the accident occurred. There is not much more I can say at the present time other than I am as anxious as everyone else to know what caused it,” said Mr Harrison. He praised the work of the emergency services who dealt with the injured grandmother and her granddaughter. “I also want to thank staff who did everything they could to help. “We have a very good safety record on site. Nothing as serious as this has ever happened to us before. “The industry is very strictly regulated. Safety checks are made at least once a year by independent engineers and by ourselves on a daily basis,” said Mr Harrison. He was highly critical of some of the claims and allegations made elsewhere in both the press and on internet websites about what happened. “They are simply not true, just people being downright evil,” he said.
The 1st of 3 funfair injury accidents in the UK to hit the headlines within one week. The Excalibur 2 ride at the Camelot Theme Park in Chorley, Lancashire remained closed following a serious accident involving the ride on 23rd August 2011.
A 12-year-old boy fell from the ride, suffering serious but non life-threatening injuries. Onlookers saw the child trying to cling on to the Excalibur 2 ride at Camelot Theme Park near Chorley, Lancashire before losing his grip and falling to the ground.
A woman reportedly has told how she clung on to a theme park ride by her hands and feet fearing she was going to fall out - days before a child plunged 30ft from the same ride. Charmaine, who lives in Bridge Terrace, Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, and went on the ride with Chloe, said: “I almost fell out. “I was holding on with my arms, feet, ankles, everything. I couldn’t believe it. I just felt myself coming right out of the side and there was nothing to protect me if I’d have let go. “They had an overhead thing that comes over you and a silver bar comes over the whole row to make you feel secure. “But my overhead thing didn’t actually come as close as I wanted it to. I felt as if I was going to come out. I was slipping through the bars. “I’m a rollercoaster fanatic and I’m not afraid of heights but this was just extreme. “I should have said something (to staff) that day but I just thought that was what the ride was supposed to be like.”
Another woman, Valerie Willis, 48, said she warned Camelot and Health and Safety bosses the ride was dangerous 10 years ago. She said: “I seriously thought I would come out of it. I had to keep pulling myself up on the bars. “I said sooner or later there would be an accident but they insisted it was safe. I’m absolutely appalled.
The Health and Safety Executive has launched an inquiry into the accident.
The Excalibur 2 ride is an Evolution-type rotation ride manufactured by Italy-based Fabbri Group.
The park's website says it is for “true adrenaline junkies” and is "a fearsome, stomach churning, test of the nerves”.
Roy Page, chief executive of Knights Leisure Limited which operates Camelot, said: “At this stage, we do not know the full extent of the injuries sustained and our thoughts are with the young boy and his family. “Until we have more information to hand, it would be inappropriate to make any further comment.” The park has said, “Every ride undergoes a daily, pre-opening safety and maintenance check throughout the season and is subject to an annual, independent safety inspection".
