Ride OK’d hours prior to fatal accident
Student killed, 7 others are injured
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Inspectors repeatedly looked over an “aggressive thrill” ride while it was assembled at the Ohio State Fair and signed off on it hours before it flew apart in a deadly accident that flung passengers into the ground, according to authorities and records released Thursday.
Investigators worked to find out what caused the opening day wreck, which killed a high school student who had just enlisted in the Marines. Seven other people were injured, including four teenagers.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich shut down all rides at the state fair and ordered them inspected-again.
“It’s a nightmare. It’s a terrible situation,” the Republican governor said, adding that the accident was “the worst tragedy in the history of the fair.”
Video taken by a bystander of the swinging, spinning Fire Ball ride in action captured a crashing sound. A section holding four riders came apart, and screams could be heard as at least two people were ejected and plunged-toward the ground.
Tyler Jarrell, 18, of Columbus was thrown about 50 feet and was pronounced dead on the midway. The Marine Corps and school officials said Mr. Jarrell enlisted last week and was going to begin basic-training next summer.
Ohio’s chief inspector of amusement ride safety, Michael Vartorella, said the Fire Ball was inspected three or four times before the fair opened.
Fire Ball swings 24 riders back and forth like a pendulum 40 feet above the ground while they sit in four-seat carriages that spin at 13 revolutions a minute, according to thecompany’s website.
The ride’s manufacturer, KMG, said the one at the Ohio fair was built in 1998 in the Netherlands. Forty-three of the rides are in use around the world, 11 of them in the U.S., KMG said. None has had a serious malfunction before, it said.