This is an interim post for August 2022.
03 August 2022, a trespasser climbed onto a ride at Family Funfair carnival in England, operated by Forrest Amusements. The 14 year old boy fell off, sustaining fatal injuries. Link | Link
05 August 2022, in Ontario, Canada, at Campbellford Fair, operated by Magical Midways, a seat on a Tilt-a-Whirl came off the post and was struck by the following seat, exposing four occupants to the impact. The report indicates no serious injuries but also describes one rider bleeding from a head wound. Link
06 August 2022, a 57 year old woman sustained fatal injury after she “slipped out of her seat” on a roller coaster at Wild- und Freizeitpark Klotten/Cochem in Germany. It has not yet been reported how the rider came to be separated from the ride vehicle. Link | Link
08 August 2022, the Shipwrecked ride at Blackgang Chine in England collapsed on one side. Several riders are described as injured, with two taken to hospital by ambulance, for care of reportedly “not serious” injuries. This ride, generically presented as a “crazy bus”, “flying carpet” or “Miami” ride, is a seating platform that is often themed – in this case as a shipwrecked boat. Both ends of the platform are attached to vertical booms that rotate like synchronized propellers, keeping the platform level. Each boom has a counterweight at the opposite end from the seating platform. The images of the malfunction show the platform tipped over with one side low and the other side raised, and the booms are not parallel. Patrons are quoted as reporting loud unusual noises prior to the abrupt collapse. The condition of the booms and attachment to the seating platform is not visible in the reports as photos have only been taken from the front, however the resting position of the ride can only occur by malfunction. Link | Link | Link
08 August 2022, a swing carousel injured three people after striking a nearby tree at a fair in Venray. The ride was reportedly a last minute substitution for another amusement ride that was not operational. Each ride has specific dimensions for the ride footprint to ensure clearance from nearby power lines, buildings, foliage, and adjacent rides, and one ride will not necessarily fit safely in the footprint set out for another. Link | Link
11 August 2022, a train on the Feuerdracht roller coaster collided with the train preceding it at Legoland in Germany, injuring 34 people, two seriously. (Number of casualties vary in the early reporting.) The lead train was reportedly at the station when the following train collided with it. Roller coasters with more than one train divide the track into blocks with sensors that prevent a train from entering a block that is already occupied. Investigation is underway. Link | Link | Link | Link
12 August 2022, two women were injured by glass falling from a gondola ride, requiring treatment at a hospital. Although the report is not explicit, as the gondolas appear to be enclosed in glass panels, it seems likely that the women struck by the glass were bystanders rather than occupants of a different gondola. The report further indicates that four young men were taken into custody on suspicion that they had deliberately caused glass to fall. It is unclear if the glass was a beverage container or a part of the gondola. Link | Link
14 August 2022, a 13 year old girl died when she fell from a swinging pendulum in Honduras. The report describes the restraint device “loosening”, allowing her to slip from the seat while the pendulum was inverted, and the “locks on the seats of the ride were rusty and did not function properly.” The operator is inexplicably quoted saying, “But she fainted. It’s not our fault. We have operation permits”. As any rider could become unconscious at any time by pure coincidence, let alone a reaction to the physical experience of the ride, the restraint system must never rely on voluntary behaviour as a restraint device. Link
20 August 2022, at Land of Make Believe (USA NJ), a child was struck by a miniature train. While the description was unclear, it seems the child was a bystander that had entered in the path of the train. Link | Link
25 August 2022, a “young person” was rescued and taken to hospital after falling “at height” in a “tight space” at the top of a waterslide. While this sounds like a case of entrapment due to action failure while queuing, the reporting leaves too much to the imagination. Link
25 August 2022, riders on El Toro at Six Flags Great Adventure reported a malfunction described as “felt like hitting a pothole”, with five sent to hospital and 14 treated onsite, for injuries including back pain and biting tongues. Subsequent information attributed to operations personnel described a pre-existing problem with the track. Link | Link | Link | Link | Link
31 August 2022, a 7m kiddie gondola wheel at Fuji-Q Highland in Japan was operated with one gondola door left open. Riders board small vehicles resembling helicopters and are buckled into seats with belts, but the helicopter doors are intended to be closed before starting the ride cycle as an additional safety measure. The routine was reportedly interrupted when a guest chose not to ride, and the wheel rotation was started without checking again. The open door was noted by a bystander and the situation corrected, and no one was injured. The article notes a similar case last year in which a 50m gondola was dispatched with an open door. Link
Reports of injury in previous periods
Events occurring in prior periods receive media coverage for various reasons, often because of litigation milestones (claims filed, decision reached), anniversaries of notable events, and references arising from recent similar events.
A report was posted of a waterslide collision shown on TikTok video. The date of occurrence is not indicated but the post was dated 27 June. In the video, an adult male was dispatched down a closed-tube waterslide and is seen to collide with a little girl who is still in the slide path. Light riders can lose momentum on waterslides. Slide attendants in the splash pool or runout must signal to the dispatch attendant when a slide is clear to go, because the dispatch attendant cannot always see the exit point of the slide. Communication apparently broke down between the two attendants. The adult male also criticized the slide exit attendant for not assisting the little girl after she had been struck and pushed out the end of the slide. Link | Link
Reported in August but reportedly occurring 16 July 2022 at Palace Playland in Maine (USA), a 10 year old boy fell from a Troika style ride themed Super Star. The report of the event determined that the boy noted his restraint had not been secured by the operator, and recognizing this was unsafe, attempted to exit from the seat, but the ride started and he fell and was struck by other vehicles. Link | Link | Link | Link
Excluded reports
Some media reports are outside the scope of the database. Riders stuck on stopped rides are popular topics for human-interest stories. Also excluded are media reports that cover multiple cases without specifics of each case. Employee injuries are also excluded, but can attract media interest. Excluded devices may also be mentioned here. We also do not log single reports that cover multiple different injury cases, unless each is separately describe, so news coverage that refers to multiple different injury events may be reported here.
03 August 2022, the Abismo roller coaster at Parque de Atracciones in Spain stopped with a train on the vertical lift hill at the end of the day, in a heat wave that saw 37C temperatures. Assisting the riders to evacuate reportedly took an hour. While uncomfortable delays are regrettable, roller coaster safety systems must stop a train if they detect conditions that could be unsafe. Link
An employee attempting to retrieve dropped property belonging to a guest was struck by a moving roller coaster cart on 13 August 2022 at a fair in Germany. He sustained head injuries and was taken to hospital. Link
A seven year old boy sliding on a toboggan slide at La Récré des 3 Curés in France in late July sustained fractures to his legs after he collided with the preceding guest, who had stopped. Link
In a report on 27 August 2022, an employee operating the Poogee Penguins Spin Out Coaster was struck by one of the ride vehicles and knocked off a platform at Santa’s Village in New Hampshire (USA), felling six to eight feet and sustaining serious injuries. The operator, reportedly well trained, was responding to an unusual situation that made him step in the direction that put him in the path of the train. Link | Link
A roller coaster at Southport Pleasureland in England required evacuation of 19 riders by cherry picker when it stopped due to a fault on 27 August 2022. One rider reportedly fainted. Safety sensors are required to stop if they detect any conditions that could be unsafe. Although unloading from the regular platform location is preferable, some types of roller coasters cannot be restarted with riders once stopped. Link