Posted on 06/22/2007 7:11:48 PM PDT by Hal1950
13-Year-Old Girl Had Feet Chopped Off On Superman Ride; 8 More Rides Shut Down
Six Flags and another company shut down eight more thrill rides Friday around the country, including a ride at a North Carolina amusement park, after a teenage girl had her feet chopped off at the ankle on a Superman Tower of Power.
State inspectors, meanwhile, returned to Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, where the accident happened, to examine the ride, which lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 mph.
It was unclear at what point during the ride the 13-year-old was injured Thursday, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman. The girl was taken to a hospital. She was not identified and details of her condition were not immediately available Friday.
Chris Williams, who witnessed the event, told CBS affiliate WLKY that riders saw the cable break as it got to the top on the right-hand side.
Treva Smith said it snapped again as the ride descended. "The people on the ride just came and hit the ground," Smith said.
Next, Williams said he saw the teen maimed. "As the ride came down, the wire swung left, struck the young lady on the back side of my children," Williams said.
Williams' daughter had traded seats with the 13-year-old, and was sitting on the other side of the ride.
Smith told WLKY she raced to the ride to find members of her group who had been on it.
"When I got up there, the lady, she was just sitting there and she didn’t have no legs," Smith said. "She didn’t have no legs at all. She was just calm, probably in shock from everything."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
Also on this tower, is a ride where you go on a roller-coaster type car, and get sent downward simulating a free fall. On this ride, after one of the trips down, it slowly starts to go back up, and then abruptly starts going down again, to make it feel like the car has lost control and you are about to fall off.
Yikes... A picture of true insanity !!
Yes. At least that's what we were told thirty five years ago. Sometimes with a ruler to the head. As expensive as it is for them not to teach, I'd hate to see the bill if they were to start.
“...which lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 mph.”
Many decades ago, they had something very much like this at Coney Island; quite a thrill in its day.
I'm assuming that's what cut off this girl's feet. Steel cables under tension are deadly when they snap.
How do you knw she saw it?
My first response to that picture was, out loud, "Oh no. Hell no."
I hope the girl recovers well. What an unimaginable thing to happen.
Oh, lord. My people, my people... I have tears in my eyes.
I always thought it was a myth that snapping cables could sever limbs.
Think “Weed-Eater.”
Terra firma.
I used to ride everything at Six Flags over Texas around ‘92 or so when I was in Jr High, but it seems like in the last ten years they’ve gone overboard making these rides “Extreme” to the point I don’t think I could ride any of them, it’s ridiculous.
(The sarcasm is directed at Mythbusters, not the victim of this tragedy.)
How do you know she didn’t? :o
One of the safety rules I enforce in my house are to always use two hands on a bungee cord. If they slip out of your hand they can snap around and hook you in the eye.
Actually, the more common scenario is for the wire hook on the end opposite you to straighten out because of the pressure pulling on it. It then becomes a pointy-tipped projectile traveling directly toward the other end of the cord where the pull is coming from.
An acquaintance was securing a load with a bungee and just this thing happened. He lost an eye.
Not a good outcome.
The man had just witnessed a terrifying tragedy, and you expect him to be able to communicate in a calm and rational manner?
So he is so weak he can’t say “NO”, but he can ruin the fun for everyone else? Nice guy!
I don't...just wondering you knew for sure that she did...she may very well have seen the incident of aftermath. I usually don't put a whole lot of faith in "eyewitness accounts."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.