It’s everyone’s worst nightmare. Imagine loading your family onto a crowded rollercoaster only to watch helplessly as it snaps off and crashes into the ground. That’s exactly what happened on Sunday at the Kankaria Amusement Park in Ahmedabad, India.
Daily Wire reports that two people are dead and 29 others were injured after a pendulum-style ride at an India amusement park snapped and fell to the ground, CBS News reported. The incident occurred on Sunday at the Kankaria Amusement Park in Ahmedabad, India. The outlet also reported that many of the injuries were “critical.”
Footage posted to social media shows that the ride was nearly horizontal when the top of the main shaft holding the section where people sit snaps, causing the pendulum to swing back before falling to the ground.
Vijay Nehra, Ahmedabad’s municipal commissioner, announced shortly after the incident that a criminal investigation would be opened to determine what went wrong.
“I have instructed AMC [Ahmedabad Municipal Commission] officials to file an FIR [First Information Report] with City Police so that we can have a criminal investigation with the help of forensic experts and determine exact reason of the accident,” Nehra tweeted. “We need to fix accountability for such horrific accidents.”
What, if any, safety requirements were in place is still unclear.
In the U.S. the Consumer Product Safety Commission regulates portable rides like those you find at state and county fairs, there is no federal oversight of fixed rides at theme parks. While theme park rides are regularly checked by state and local inspectors, the industry is largely self-regulated.
All theme parks with permanent rides, however, must disclose ride-related injuries that require immediate hospital stays of at least 24 hours. Theme parks negotiated this self-reporting arrangement to avoid routine inspections. Worse yet, while there are industry standards, they’re not the law in every state.