Press release:
Darien Center, NY -- On Thursday, Aug. 11, at approximately 6:10 p.m. (Eastern) Darien Lake Theme Park Resort’s Ride of Steel roller coaster experienced a mechanical failure. The train automatically stopped on the coaster’s lift, approximately half way up the track, when a chain broke.
There were 32 passengers onboard who were safely evacuated according to standard operating procedures.
Due to the quick, trained response of the DL team, our guests were on the ground within 30 minutes of the breakdown. In addition, all redundant safety systems functioned precisely as planned, including the immediate train stop.
"Ride of Steel will be closed until further notice,” said Chris Thorpe, general manager of the park.
Ride updates will be posted on the park’s website at www.godarienlake.com <http://www.godarienlake.com/>.
Photo courtesy WGRZ, Buffalo
Photo courtesy WHAM13, Rochester
Photo Courtesy WHAM13, Rochester
I have always told my kids
I have always told my kids they're not allowed to ride this particular coaster. Makes me nauseated just looking at photos of it.
This particular ride never
This particular ride never should have been reopened after the Irag vet fell off it and died. This ride is dangerous. It should be replaced with something else.
In fairness, they're
In fairness, they're completely unrelated issues.
Sgt. Hackemer fell off because he shouldn't have been allowed on the ride in the first place. There was no mechanical failure involved in his death.
This mishap was a mechanical failure and there are no reported injuries. At this point, not enough is known about the mechanical failure to judge whether the ride is unsafe or not. It's notable that nobody was hurt.
Anybody that goes on this
Anybody that goes on this ride in the future ought to have their head examined. In fact, I'm thinking of having my head examined just for the heck of it; but I'm sure they won't find anything.
Everything malfunctions. It
Everything malfunctions. It is like saying well my car belt just blew so lets just junk it because the car broke. There are ALOT of things people do everyday that are alot more dangerous than riding this ride. Also as Howard said two totally unrelated inccidents that happened with the ride.
My question is, what if someone wont walk down the steps? What if they start to panic or something? I think they use a harness (from what it looked like when we saw them walking down) on the people walking down the steps but what if someone is so scared they wont get out of thier seat even? I wonder if that has ever happened to anyone before at a park.