Strapped on tightly to the seats of the famous ‘Free Fall Tower’ ride in the Queensland Amusement Park in Chennai, 24 visitors are all smiles as the ride goes up and down the first time. A one-minute clip of the short-lived thrill ride, however, turns into a scene of horror as the cables holding one of the platforms snap, forcing 12 people to plunge 10 feet to the ground, with nothing to break their fall. This video of this incident that took place on June 18, is now viral and has forced the Amusement Park’s management to temporarily shut down.
According to Assistant Commissioner Muthuvel Pandi, who is handling the case, this dangerous accident comes two months after a notice was sent to the park based on complaints against the equipment present there. “We wrote to them in April to ensure that all the rides were in good shape. They claimed that they had checked everything but clearly that was not the case,” he adds.
The police say that following the accident, authorities from Queensland did not even approach the police over the matter. “We came to know after the video of the accident reached us. The amusement park tried to hide the whole thing and we believe they convinced the visitors who were in the ride to strike a compromise. All first aid was done there without any external interference,” says the Assistant Commissioner. “They were lucky that the fall was only from 10 feet. If it had been from the top of the ride (150 feet), all 12 of them would have died. This is dangerous and wrong on the part of the administration but nobody has come forward to give a complaint,” he adds.
The police, however, contacted the amusement park over the accident and sent them a notice demanding stability certificates for similar rides present in the venue.
“They have now closed the park indefinitely till they obtain the necessary documents to produce to use,” says the Assistant Commissioner.
When TNM contact the amusement park for their version of events, the management refused to comment.
This incident comes merely a month after four youths reportedly had a narrow escape after the rollercoaster, they were riding at an amusement park on East Coast Road failed to stop and rammed another one due to a mechanical failure.
Source: The News Minute