Incident on Oakwood's Hydro

Breaking news: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3629943.stm

• 17 year-old girl airlifted to hospital
• 9 year-old boy taken to hospital by ambulance
• Police were due to have given a press conference at 5.30
• Condition of the two injured is unknown
• Circumstances leading to the injuries unknown (or whether they were even on the ride at all)

Makes one go HMMM... I sincerely hope that their injuries are non-life threatening.

Ouch...I hate to hear that. I wonder how the injuries were caused?

Wow. First the Perilous Plunge death, and now this - not a good track record for the Intamin "River Plunge" rides. Though I also hope no one was seriously hurt, it will be interesting to see how this plays out . . .

Well, the police were due to make a statement at 5.30 PM GMT (45 minutes ago), so hopefully BBC will update the story soon.

Something to bear in mind though before we start speculating is that this might not even be directly due to the ride; one of the kids could have fallen into the lake and the other dived in afterwards for example (this isn't speculation, just a thought that the injured people may not necessarily have been on the boat)

EDIT: BBC News reports that the girl "had fallen some 100ft into the water below the ride and suffered "extensive injuries".

*** Edited 4/15/2004 5:39:32 PM UTC by Marcus Sheen***

Sad :( I hope they both fully recover.

-Jim

Wow...my prayers go out to them.

Ouch....this really makes me wonder about what happened. When properly secured to a normally proportioned person, those restraints are 100% safe. What happened?

Sadly, BBC news has reported that the girl who fell from the ride has died. My thoughts are with all involved.

-Jim

I wouldn't call vekoma's restraints exactly safe.

Twice already I've had my retstrain unlock mid ride on SFA's Mind eraser & for the past two seasons I've avoided that coaster like the plauge,although I did finally ride it on opening weekend & this time my restraint stayed tightly locked.

Heh that happened to me on Deja Vu in SFOG. I was aware that they can do this (and nothing was wrong) but man.... that's some scary **** to have your harness drop a click on that first tower. Took 2 years off my life lol.

Are the restraints on this ride like their steal coasters? There is no seatbelt to accompany it?

The restraints are a t-bar (like the steel coasters) plus a seat-belt... both have been fastened very tightly everytime I've been on Hydro (about 10 times). It really bugs me how you can fall out of the ride :( Tragic news.

Trust me on this Zero-G the restraint came open & the only thing holding it even remotely in place was the safety belt.

The 2nd time it happened was going up the lift (row 1,red train,right side)...it was nice & tight until we got about half way to three quarters of the way up & it just popped up,now with all the weight against the seat back at that angle there's no way that weight pressing against the harness forced it to pop open a notch & when I tried to pull it back down before cresting the lift it wouldn't lock into place after that.

When I rode ME on opening weekend this year I simply made sure to sit on the left side of the train in row 1 instead of the right & had my restraint set nice & tight & this time it held ...I won't even hold onto it when going up the lift anymore for fear of it happening again.

As for what happened on Hydro in the UK well it's just a real shame & a tragic loss...I don't know if it has anything to do with the ride design though,I think the drop on those things is just plain too steep & for someone who is perhaps too thin for the restraint it could be just as dangerous for someone who's too large which was the case at KBF back in 01. *** Edited 4/16/2004 3:48:42 PM UTC by BATWING FAN SFA***

I wonder if a different approach to the Knott's incident, one focused more on the mechanics of the failure rather than on the size of the rider, might have reached a different conclusion and resulted in a design change to the Oakwood ride.

Pure speculation on my part, of course...I have never been to Knott's or to Oakwood, and have never seen the ride 'in person'. But I think "the rider was too big for the restraint" is too simplistic an explanation for the incident. And my guess is that it won't apply in this case.

--Dave Althoff, Jr.

Certainly there aren't many 16-year old girls that weigh 300 pounds, so I think it's safe to assume that wasn't the issue.

Based on the picture of the deceased, you're right---it doesn't. I said this in the news thread, but based on my freshman-year recollection of Newtonian mechanics, getting out of one of these should require shattering your femur or the sudden dematerialization of seat/floor. The two most likely explanations to my mind are the restraint was never properly secured or it failed.

No, she looks pretty slim from the BBC News photo. I am absolutely stunned by the news - I don't wish it on any park, least of all Oakwood. When I rode Hydro, it did convey a sense of recklessness that I've never felt on a ride. I didn't think it felt dangerous, but I felt uncomfortable getting excited about a drop that ultimately cost someone their life, and I did get the feeling that this ride was really pushing the limits. I rode it several times, but I don't know, it just intimidated me. I have never felt that on a ride before. Strange.

I've been watching as news reports were updated through the day and the media here are now putting a spin on their reports.

From newspapers misreporting that the young boy injured also fell from the ride to the latest headline stating "Death Ride Killed Before." This pertains to the death at Knotts in 2001 but the media (ITV and the tabloid press in particular) are sensationalising the incident using phrases such as this and are effectively implying that the park has been negligent when the investigation into the incident has only begun.

My perception of the McNamara family is they are not dissimilar from the Koch family. I may be wrong, however I don't think so.

A family has witnessed something no-one should see and I hope that they can somehow get through that. My thoughts are with them tonight.

Hopefully, the 'grown up' media will wait for the official outcome before cating judgement.

-Jim (saddened and embarrassed by the British media :()

*sorry for venting. *** Edited 4/16/2004 10:08:16 PM UTC by Invy***

i don't know, but when i rode perilous plunge at kbf, when i pulled the lapbar down, it didn't seem to hit my waist, but moreso my upper thigh.