Roller coaster f lies off rails and drops 20ft onto toddlers’ ride
EIGHT children and two adults were hurt in a horror crash yesterday when a roller coaster derailed and fell 20ft onto a toddlers’ ride.
Three youngsters were in a serious condition last night, and police in Scotland confirmed that two of those hurt had been standing under the ride.
Visitors rushed to help those stuck in harnesses on the Tsunami roller coaster – which reaches 65kph – after a carriage went off the tracks at 3.40pm at M&D’s theme park in Motherwell, 25km outside Glasgow.
Witnesses said it flew off the track at full speed and shot through a fence before hitting a concrete play area where toddlers drive toy cars.
Roselyn Rodger, 49, from Motherwell, said it suddenly ‘dropped like a bomb’.
The mother-of-six said: ‘I turned my head, I saw it derail and flip. And all I could see was it flipped and banged and crushed everything upside down on the ground. Everyone was running in different directions and kids were screaming. It just shouldn’t have happened. Not in this day and age. The carriage only narrowly missed a little kid who was riding a bike.’
The crash was on the first weekend of Scotland’s school holidays and the park, which has 750,000 visitors a year, was busy. James Millerick, who had been queuing for another ride, said he heard ‘shrieks’.
He told Sky News: ‘There were maybe seven or eight individuals, mostly of younger age between maybe ten and 15 years old that were actually trapped inside the roller coaster lying on the ground. The harnesses were still on as well so there was absolutely no movement.’
Six ambulances were called and the park was evacuated. Gavin McNally, said the scene was ‘carnage’, and it would ‘be a miracle if there are no fatalities’.
Katie Burns said: ‘Never been so scared in my life. It’s like something out a horror film, children crying and everything.’
A spokesman for M&D’s said the theme park was closed until further notice. The Tsunami ride – which has a loop-the-loop and corkscrew – also malfunctioned in 2011, with nine people trapped 60ft in the air for eight hours.
Chief Inspector David Bruce said: ‘As a result of this accident ten people have been injured, two adults and eight children. I understand that there were nine people on the roller coaster and two of the casualties were on the ground.’
He said some of the injuries ‘may be serious’.