Roommates, we are sending our condolences to the loved ones of the 14-year-old boy who recently lost his life after falling to his death while riding an amusement park ride.
According to Fox 35, the unfortunate incident took place Thursday evening at Orlando’s ICON Park. Witnesses at the scene told authorities that they saw someone fall from the Free Fall ride. Initially, some people thought they saw a piece of the ride fall to the ground before they realized it was a person who had fallen. The 14-year-old boy was taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced deceased.
Witnesses say they also saw the boy’s parents panicking as they watched their child fall from the ride, which stands 430ft tall, “making it the world’s tallest freestanding drop tower.”
The ride holds up to 30 passengers at a time, it then rotates as it makes its way to the top and then “tilts forward and faces the ground briefly before free-falling nearly 400 feet at approximately 75 miles per hour.”
John Stine, the director of marketing for the Slingshot Group, which owns and operates the ride, said, “We operate the ride with all the safety precautions in mind. Everything is in place and this is why we are doing this investigation.”
ABC News notes that the ride has “an over-the-shoulder restraint harness, with two hand grips at the chest level, that goes over the rider automatically.”
The ride will remain closed as the investigation into the incident continues.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
