A 14-year-old boy has died after falling from an amusement park ride in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night.
The boy, who has not been publicly identified, reportedly fell from the Orlando FreeFall attraction at ICON Park, the tallest drop tower ride in the world. Emergency first responders were called to the park at 11:12 p.m. local time on Thursday evening to investigate.
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In a statement released by police on Friday morning, they revealed that the teenager was transported to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
“Witnesses on scene reported that someone had fallen from the ride. This death investigation is in its very early stages.”
On drop towers, passengers are strapped into seats around a central pillar. The seats are slowly raised to great heights and then dropped, sliding down the pillar at tremendous speed to give the feeling of falling to your doom — before safely being slowed to a stop.
At least, it’s supposed to be safe…
Per Today, social media video taken at the scene by a bystander purports to show the ride in question beginning to rise. In the horrific clip, an unidentified rider can be seen falling from the tower as it begins to drop to the ground. As the ride ends, several people who appear to be park employees can be heard asking others to confirm whether they “checked him” prior to the awful fall.
John Stine, a spokesperson for Slingshot Group, which owns and operates the ride in question, also released a statement about the tragedy to NBC News.
In that statement, Stine informed the news outlet that the Orlando FreeFall ride would be closed indefinitely amid the ongoing investigation, and said it appeared as though the boy was wearing a safety harness on the ride at the time of the tragedy. The spokesperson added:
“Words can’t say how we feel. Our hearts go out to the family of this young man and that’s all we can say at this time. We operate the ride with all the safety precautions in mind. Everything is in place. And this is why we’re doing this investigation.”
The Orlando FreeFall ride first opened in late December of last year. After the ride’s opening, ICON Park boasted that the 430-foot tall ride is “the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower,” as it sends up to 30 riders at a time up to the top “before tilting you 30 degrees forward and dropping you at over 75 mph” back to the ground.
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According to People, the boastful information about the ride’s specifics on the park’s website “no longer appears to be available” following this tragedy. ICON Park itself did not immediately release a comment about the teenager’s death beyond the operator’s public statement (above). The Orlando Sentinel reports that ICON Park has had at least one major safety issue in the past, when an employee died in the park in 2020 while conducting a safety check on a different ride.
Here is more about the terrible tragedy, and the early stages of the ensuing investigation:
So sad.
Our hearts go out to the young man’s family, friends, and loved ones — as well as the people at the park who apparently had to witness this horrible event.
R.I.P.
[Image via LiveNOW From Fox/YouTube]
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