10th death at disneyland

[Taisen]

ANAHEIM, Calif. (Sept. 6) - An accident on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster left a 22-year-old man dead and 10 other riders injured.

The ride's locomotive separated Friday morning from its train inside a tunnel and was slightly derailed, but officials did not know whether that caused the accident or was the result of it.

''Our hearts and prayers go out to those injured and to the family of the deceased,'' said Michael Eisner, chairman and chief executive of the Walt Disney Co., who came to the park and spoke to reporters.

Marcello Torres, of Gardena, who was in the first car behind the locomotive, died inside the ride and his body had to be extricated by paramedics, said John Nicoletti, a city spokesman.

One of the other victims had moderate injuries and the other cases were considered minor. Six were taken to the University of California Irvine Medical Center, two were taken to Western Medical Center and two were treated at the scene and released.

The injured included two boys ages 9 and 15, two men ages 20 and 47, and four women ages 19, 21, 37 and 47. The ages of the two people treated at the scene were not available.

''We are working very closely with local and state authorities to gather the facts and determine the cause of this accident as quickly as possible,'' Eisner said.

Some passengers were able to evacuate the ride on their own, so the total number of riders was not immediately known, Nicoletti said.

Nicoletti said it was not known how the locomotive became disconnected. The train cars behind the locomotive remained on the track.

Jay Rasulo, president of Disney's theme parks and resorts division, said state and local authorities were investigating. He said Disney's own technical staff had not yet been in to examine the ride.

''We don't know exactly what's happened yet,'' Rasulo said. He stressed that every ride is inspected every morning before Disneyland opens.

Tokyo Disneyland, which has a similar Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster, shut down its ride until the cause of the Disneyland accident is determined, said Misato Kawabata of the park's information center. Kawabata added there have been no problems with the Tokyo ride.

The ride is designed to look like an old fashioned locomotive pulling cars, which can hold as many as 32 people. Rasulo said he believed the top speed of the ride was 28 mph.

The death was the 10th at the park since it opened in 1955, said police Sgt. Rick Martinez. Not all the deaths have been ride-related.

The computer operated roller coaster takes visitors on a twisting, turning ride aboard what is supposed to be a runaway train in the Old West. Riders zoom through mineshafts and caverns, past falling rocks and tumbling waterfalls.

I thought the magic kingdom(florida) had a similar ride.

[Kurbster]

Originally Posted by Taisen

I thought the magic kingdom(florida) had a similar ride.

it does...it's just called "Thunder Mountain" over there...

I guess disneyland is a play to die for

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[Taisen]

I wonder why they didn't shut it down too.

[Kurbster]

Originally Posted by Taisen

I wonder why they didn't shut it down too.

Just because the thunder in california malfunctioned, doesn't mean that the thunder in florida would too. And I think the california ride was the first and much older than the other one...

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[Exodus]

well, at least this death wasn't related to child suffocation due to man dressed in large and well made halloween costume giving a big long hug to asthmatic children.

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[ka0s]

Originally Posted by Kirby

Just because the thunder in california malfunctioned, doesn't mean that the thunder in florida would too. And I think the california ride was the first and much older than the other one...

well, they shut down the Tokyo one...

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[Taisen]

I was just about to post that.

Don't trust us to ensure your safety if you visit I guess.

[T.O.F.K.A.Z]

Accidents/Malfunctions can always happen , everything in life is a risk. It's just a case of bad luck if something similair happens.

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[Taisen]

There hasn't been a great philosophy that didn't start off with "Life is..."

[DarkAurora]

"IT'S A SMALL DEATH AFTER ALL! IT'S A SMALL DEATH AFTER ALL!"

BTW, the Disney World in Florida has only had one death. Some idiot was standing up on Space Mountain and got decapitated. Disney refuses to own up to the death though because the body was offically pronounced dead off of Disney property.

[Boltzmann]

Originally Posted by DarkAurora

Some idiot was standing up on Space Mountain and got decapitated.

Sorry, but I couldn't help but laugh

I hate disneyland. BTW, this reminds me of Strider's disney theory (I saw it on my earlier days here at Ngemu).

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[RF]

10 isnt bad, but many would say 1 is bad enough. If the rides are inspected every day, its just an accident. You have to acknowledge the risk you are about to take, including the risk some random thing may go wrong and you could die.

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[Kane]

Risk is inherent in any everyday activity. If you try to avoid risk at every step your life will be meaningless.
10 is good. It's like those that say the concorde crash was too much. Onje crash in what half a century of running? I think that's a pretty damn good record.

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[Boltzmann]

You're right about this. You cannot expect a perfect record on anything. Mechanical systems will fail sooner or later, even with regular maintenance.

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[Taisen]

No event occurs by accident. This is a case of negligence but whose negligence is the mystery to us alone.

[Exodus]

Originally Posted by Boltzmann

You're right about this. You cannot expect a perfect record on anything. Mechanical systems will fail sooner or later, even with regular maintenance.

not to mention that human error ties into this just as much. everything done in life has a risk, just some of them require you to pay lots of money to do it.

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[Boltzmann]

Originally Posted by Taisen

No event occurs by accident. This is a case of negligence but whose negligence is the mystery to us alone.

It CAN be a simple accident - just a mechanical failure. Every engineer knows that even a totally new machine can fail unexpectedly.

Although it can also be a human error (as pointed by Exodus), but it does not imply negligence necessarily.

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[DarkAurora]

I've known people who have worked at Disney before and Disney is pretty strict with their employees, so I highly doubt any deaths there would be caused by negligence.

[ka0s]

so, how much do you guys think disney will be sued for?

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[DarkAurora]

We'll never find out because Disney will settle out of court. They'll never let this go to a cout trial.