A teenage girl fell approximately eight meters from a paused Gondola ride at an amusement park located in upstate New York on Saturday night.
After hanging from the ride for a short period, the unidentified 14-year-old girl fell into a crowd of park guests and employees who had gathered to catch her before she hit the ground. The accident took place at Six Flags Amusement Park on the “Sky Ride,” about 88 kilometers north of Albany, N.Y.
The girl was taken to Albany Medical Centre in stable condition with no serious injuries, according to the Warren County Sheriff’s office.
The sheriff’s office also said in a statement that the girl was riding the attraction with a younger, child relative and fell from a stopped two-person car. The ride was stopped by the operator after being informed about a rider in distress, officials said.
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Officials also said the girl struck a tree before landing in the crowd, and was treated by park emergency medical staff. She was then taken to Glen Falls Hospital before being transferred by helicopter to the Albany Medical Centre.
Officials who inspected the ride reported that there was no malfunction. The park issued a statement saying that guest safety is top priority.
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“There does not appear to be any malfunction of the ride, but we have closed the attraction until a thorough review can be completed,” a park official said.
Authorities also said that a 47-year-old man, who was a guest at the park, was treated and released from a hospital for a back injury he sustained while attempting to catch the falling girl.
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Six Flags has experienced issues with guest safety in the past. This past April, 20 riders were rescued from a roller coaster stalled more than 100 ft in the air at the franchise’s Washington, D.C. location. Last July, a roller coaster in the brand’s Arlington, Tex. park stalled with 20 park guests on board and needed to be evacuated. In an event that took place in August 2014, 24 riders remained stuck on a roller coaster for five hours at the Six Flags park in Maryland.
It’s important to note however that Six Flags is one of the biggest amusement park franchises in the world with 18 locations across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A 2013 study by the Nationwide Children’s Hospital found that from 1990 to 2010, 92,885 children under 18 were treated in U.S. emergency rooms for amusement ride-related injuries – an average of 4,423 per year. Over 70 per cent of those injuries took place between May and September, for an average of 20 injuries per day.
Furthermore, while amusement park safety standards are set and overseen by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, USA Today reports that compliance with these standards is voluntary, not mandatory.
-With files from the Associated Press.
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