China amusement park: Teen girl flung from ride dies

A teenage girl has died after being flung out of a fast-turning ride at an amusement park in southwestern China.

She was thrown on to metal railings and was taken to a hospital, where she later died.

An initial investigation showed her seatbelt had broken and a passenger safety bar did not fit tightly enough at the Chaohua Park near the city of Chongqing.

The “Travel Through Space” ride was inspected in December, reports said.

Video footage showing the girl hanging from the seat before being hurled off.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Image captionMetal railings near by were buckled when the girl was tossed from the ride

The West China Metropolis Daily reported Sunday that the girl’s family had reached a compensation agreement with the park for their only child’s death amounting to 870,000 yuan ($127,000; £100,000).

China’s safety regulator said it had asked Chongqing authorities to suspend all the park’s big rides for checks to be carried out.

It also ordered other companies operating the same ride to stop using it and contact its manufacturer in the city of Chengdu for further checks.

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Worst amusement park accidents

• Eight teenagers were killed in a 1984 fire at the Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park in New Jersey, US. Arsonists are believed to have started the blaze
• Six people died in a failed simulated rocket launch in Shenzhen, China, in 2010. One of the cars on the centrifuge ride became loose, lost power and the ride fell to the ground in flames with 44 people inside
• Five children were killed when the Battersea Park Big Dipper malfunctioned in the UK in 1972. Rope hauling cars to the top of launch slope broke and a safety mechanism failed, causing cars to roll into the boarding area
• Four people died in 2016 when their raft on the Thunder River Rapids ride in the Dreamworld Amusement park in Queensland, Australia, collided with another raft and flipped over
• Three died at the Galaxyland Amusement Park in Alberta, Canada, in 1986. The last car of a four-car train on the Mindbender triple loop ride came away from the track, throwing off passengers before crashing into a concrete pillar
• Sixteen people – including two teenage girls who needed leg amputations – were injured at UK’s Alton Towers park in 2015. Staff failed to notice a stationary car on the 14-loop Smiler ride and overrode the stop mechanism, sending the next car into it

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