Rollercoaster riders thrown, left dangling after car derails in US.
SIX people were injured after a ride malfunction caused roller coaster cars to derail, ejecting two passengers and stranding eight other riders at the Boardwalk in Daytona Beach, Florida, officials said.
The incident happened around 8.30pm local time when the roller coaster went off the track, the Daytona Beach Fire Department said.
Fire crews rescued 10 riders who were stuck in the three derailed cars.
“The riders were very frightened and the firefighters were doing a great job of trying to make sure that everyone stayed calm so the rescue could go off successfully,” spokeswoman Sasha Stanton said.
DB Firefighters working as fast as they can to rescue 2 riders that are in a dangling rollercoaster car pic.twitter.com/v0UrChJdHC
— DaytonaBeachFireDept (@DaytonaBeachFD) June 15, 2018
Two riders were flung from the front car and fell 10 metres to the ground, fire officials said. Two other passengers dangling from that car were rescued by firefighters on the ground using ladders and tech equipment.
Fire officials said an additional four passengers were in the middle car and the rear car held two more. These passengers were rescued using a tower truck so firefighters could climb onto the track and safely guide the riders back to the ladder and to the fire truck.
Six of the rescued riders were transported to a hospital. The extent of their injuries remained unknown, but two patients were put on trauma alert, FOX35 reported.
The Daytona Beach area was experiencing rain and lightning on the coast, though officials couldn’t say if weather was a factor in the amusement ride’s derailment.
It was unclear when the ride was last inspected.
