Theme park accident haunts teen
TWO months ago a rollercoaster crash left her without a leg, now Leah Washington is learning to walk again.
The 18-year-old from South Yorkshire was one of four injured on the Alton Towers theme park ‘Smiler’ ride.
‘‘I haven’t really come to terms with what’s happened yet, it’s too soon,’’ she told ITV about the accident in the Staffordshire amusement park.
Washington, who had one leg amputated after the crash, said: ‘‘I can feel my foot sometimes and it’s like a burning sensation, like electric shock, a stabbing pain, so it’s not nice.’’
Describing the day of the accident, she said she had visited the theme park with her boyfriend Joe Pugh, queueing up for the ride for about an hour and a half.
Seated right up the front, the couple were excited, she said.
They were first asked to get off the ride after they were seated because of ‘‘technical difficulties’’, she said.
After a half-hour wait, Washington said she still did not think anything was wrong.
However, then the ride set off and got stuck at the top of a loop.
It suddenly took off without any warning, she said.
‘‘We just came around this corner and saw this cart, and I’m like ‘Oh God, this ain’t good.’ And then we just crashed into it.’’
Washington said she started to panic when she couldn’t feel her toes. She looked down at her legs and they were crushed from the bar.
Her boyfriend suffered broken knees.