Fair ride OK'd hours before fatal accident

1 dead, 7 others injured in tragedy at Ohio State Fair.

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Inspectors repeatedly looked over a 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 that

killed a high school student who had just enlisted in the Marines. Seven other people were injured, including four teenagers.

The ride’s Dutch manufac

turer told operators of the same attraction at fairs and festivals around the world to stop using it until more is learned about what caused the malfunction.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich shut down all rides at the state fair and ordered them inspected again. He said it was too early to say whether inspectors missed something that led to the tragedy Wednesday.

“It’s a nightmare. It’s a terrible situation,” he said.

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. Other riders were still in their seats as they fell.

Tyler Jarrell, 18, of Columbus, was thrown about 50 feet and pronounced dead on the midway. The Marine Corps and school officials said Jarrell enlisted last week and was going to begin basic training next summer after his high school graduation.

“That was just this past Friday. Then he goes to the state fair and he is involved in this horrible tragedy. It’s just devastating,” said Capt. Gerard Lennon Jr., a naval science instructor in the Junior ROTC program at Jarrell’s high school.

The injured ranged in age from 14 to 42. At least two were listed in critical condition. Some people were hit by debris.

Jarrell’s girlfriend was amo ng those seriously injured, her mother told The Columbus Dispatch. Keziah Lewis, a University of Cincinnati student, doesn’t remember the accident and has pelvis, ankle and rib injuries, Clarissa Williams said.

“She kept asking for her boyfriend,” Williams said. “I had to tell her he was the one who was deceased.”

Kaylie Bellomy was in the next group waiting to board

the Fire Ball.

“It was going for a minute and it was at its highest point and I saw somebody fall on the ride, and then a minute later the whole like row of seats fell off and hit the ground,” Bellomy told WCMH-TV.

She said it was chaos afterward: “Everybody was running. I got ran over trying to get out of the way.”

Records show that inspections on Fire Ball were up to date and a state permit was issued for the ride on Wednesday, the fair’s open

ing day.

Ohio Department of Agriculture records provided to The Associated Press showed passing marks on inspections of about three dozen items, including possible cracks, brakes, proper assembly

and installation.

All rides at the fair are c hecked several times when they are being set up to ensure the work is done the way the manufacturer

intended, said Agriculture Director David Daniels.

Michael Vartorella, Ohio’s chief inspector of amusement ride safety, said the Fire Ball was inspected three or four times before the fair opened. He said that some work on

all the rides was delayed by heavy rains last week but that the inspections were completed and not rushed.

Col. Paul Pride of the State Highway Patrol said inspectors are “basically going to do an autopsy on that machine” to figure out why it malfunctioned.

“I can’t tell you with a matter of certainty how many days or weeks this will take,” he said.

Amusements of America, the company that provides rides to the state fair, said it is committed to working with investigators to determine the cause. It said Fire

Ball had been checked by its staff and independent inspectors before the fair opened.

The ride’s manufacturer, KMG, said the one at the

Ohio fair was built in 1998 in the Netherlands. Forty-three of the rides, also known as the Afterburner, are in use around the world, 11 of them in the U.S., according to KMG. None has had a serious malfunction before,

the company said.

After the accident, fairs in California, New Jersey and

Canada shut down similar rides before the company issued its order.