All of your fears about amusement park rides breaking in the worst way possible have been confirmed, as a ride in India broke as dozens watched.
Two people are dead and 29 others were injured after a pendulum-style ride at an India amusement park snapped and fell to the ground, CBS News reported. The incident occurred on Sunday at the Kankaria Amusement Park in Ahmedabad, India. The outlet also reported that many of the injuries were “critical.”
Footage posted to social media shows that the ride was nearly horizontal when the top of the main shaft holding the section where people sit snaps, causing the pendulum to swing back before falling to the ground.
Vijay Nehra, Ahmedabad’s municipal commissioner, announced shortly after the incident that a criminal investigation would be opened to determine what went wrong.
“I have instructed AMC [Ahmedabad Municipal Commission] officials to file an FIR [First Information Report] with City Police so that we can have a criminal investigation with the help of forensic experts and determine exact reason of the accident,” Nehra tweeted. “We need to fix accountability for such horrific accidents.”
On Monday, India media outlet NDTV reported that six people had been charged for “culpable homicide not amounting to murder.” Those six people include Ghanshyam Patel, the managing director of Super Star Amusement Private Limited; Bhavesh Patel, Ghanshyam’s son; Rajesh Chowski, Kankaria’s manager; Yash Patel and Kishan Mohanti, who operated the ride that broke; and Manish Vaghela, described as a “helper.”
While statistically you are more likely to be injured or killed in a car accident driving to an amusement park, rides do sometimes malfunction, and people are sometimes hurt or killed.
In May, a seven-year-old boy fell 30 feet from a rollercoaster at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire. He was airlifted to Leeds General Infirmary where the most recent report — from early June — notes his condition is “improving.”
Just days before the boy fell, three people were in injured at Castle Park in Riverside, California, after a log ride overturned. A 10-year-old boy was among the injured, who were all family members.
Earlier in May, two people were killed and 12 more injured after falling off a water slide at Children’s Garden in Sichuan province in China. The “person responsible for the business” was detained during the investigation.
In addition to these examples, at least seven more incidents have occurred around the world in 2019, according to CoasterForce, a free-to-join forum that provides information about the world’s rollercoasters but also tracks accidents. Other accidents have occurred in America (Nevada), Belgium, Cyprus, England, Germany, Poland, and Sri Lanka.