OT: 2 more roller coaster related deaths (Busch Gardens and 6 Flags)

[AlienNation]

ASSOCIATED PRESS

9:06 a.m. July 28, 2006

AUSTELL, Ga. – A 45-year-old man died of an apparent heart attack after losing consciousness at the end of the newest roller coaster ride at Six Flags Over Georgia amusement park.

The man, whose name was not released, was alert while riding the Goliath roller coaster, but he was unconscious by the end of the ride, Six Flags spokeswoman Christy Poore said.

By the time firefighters arrived, he wasn't breathing, said Cobb County Fire Lt. Dan Dupree. He said the man was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Goliath soars 200 feet over the park, lasting just over three minutes and reaching speeds of 70 miles per hour. Poore said park workers inspected the ride and then reopened it after determining it was operating properly.

On Monday, a 52-year-old Florida man died after riding the Gwazi roller coaster at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Fla. A medical examiner later said Thomas M. Welch suffered from high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries.

A 12-year-old boy who died after riding Disney-MGM's Rock 'n' Roller Coaster at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., last month was also found to have heart problems. An autopsy showed the boy had a congenital heart defect, the medical examiner said.

 

[AllisonY2K]

yeah. pre-existing conditions.

 

[Maleficent2]

How sad

Is this just a bad year for theme parks or are these incidents just being reported more now??


Mal

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Mal, I think it may be a bit of both.

It's also indicative of the ever growing problems related to the heart. As well as the people's either: a. ignorance of their health problems or b. not paying attention or flat out ignoring warnings placed at the rides, or both.

 

[whs_singingrose]

It seems that they are reporting them more this year than others.

I live in Georgia and there have been deaths at Six Flags alot more than they actually report or hear about.

 

[VirtuallyMe]

I think the intense heat is also playing a part in this- it really has been hot, then you get on a ride that increases your heart rate (maybe subject you to g-force) -add to that dehydration from the heat and you get heart troubles.

Some of this I'm sure is people who knew they did have heart problems and others who had no idea the problems exisited- and some who probably were ignoring symptoms of heat exhaustion/stroke all along.

This is very sad- but I agree that it it probably a lot more of these things getting reported than really having an increase in these incidences.

My thing is I'm thankful most of these seem to be individual problems and not something wrong with the rides at all-

 

[qruthie]

How sad

Is this just a bad year for theme parks or are these incidents just being reported more now??


Mal

First, I agree that this is very sad. Nobody goes to a theme park expecting to die.

I think the incidents are being reported more widely now, instead of just in the local newspaper, because there is some sort of movement to get laws passed to regulate safety for amusement and theme parks. The way I understand it is, the carnival in your local WalMart parking lot has to comply with certain safety regulations but amusement and theme parks don't. Things may be so lax right now that amusement and theme parks are not even required to report injuries or deaths. I know people were trying to make that mandatory but I don't know if any laws have been passed yet.

My belief is there should be minimum safety reqirements and regular, mandatory inspections for amusement and theme parks. I'm usually for local control but for this I'm feeling these laws should be at a national level. Perhaps a group like OSHA but for the parks and traveling carnivals.