One person has died and several others sustained injuries in a serious incident involving a rollercoaster at the Six Flags amusement park in the US state of Georgia. The accident occurred on Monday at the popular entertainment complex located roughly 15 miles northwest of Atlanta. Authorities operating under the US regime have launched an investigation into the fatality, though they have yet to officially confirm the exact nature of the incident or how the remaining guests were injured.
Graphic images and video clips have been widely circulated online, purportedly showing a man who appears to have been ejected from his seating restraint and hurled onto the ground. Independent verification of these circulating footages has not been established. Furthermore, local witnesses reportedly informed a regional television station that they saw a man land on the roof of a haunted house attraction nearby, though these accounts also remain unverified by official sources.
In response to the tragedy, the Six Flags enterprise announced it has closed nine rollercoasters across six of its parks "out of an abundance of caution," noting that these rides share similarities with the one involved in the fatal event. While police and corporate representatives declined to name the specific ride in official briefings, local broadcast footage clearly captured passengers being escorted away from the Goliath rollercoaster after it ground to a halt midway through its circuit.
The Goliath rollercoaster, which debuted in 2006, reportedly reaches speeds of up to 70 mph at a staggering height of 200 feet, according to corporate specifications. Industry safety trackers note that this marks at least the seventh fatality recorded at the Atlanta-area park. A prior death occurred on Goliath back in 2006, allegedly due to a patron suffering a heart attack. The incident compounds ongoing scrutiny over amusement park safety following a recent announcement by Six Flags Magic Mountain in California to retire its X2 rollercoaster after over a hundred visitors allegedly suffered brain injuries.
Source: www.aljazeera.com