Why was crash ride still running?
Victim loses a leg in horror collision at Alton Towers
ALTON Towers was under fire last night after four thrillseekers were seriously hurt on a rollercoaster with a history of problems.
The victims – three of them teenagers – were crushed after their carriage ploughed into an empty cart on the £18million Smiler ride. One is thought to have lost a leg.
It took five hours to cut all the passengers free from the wreckage and two were pictured hanging 25ft upside down. Witnesses described hearing an ‘almighty bang’ before seeing ‘blood everywhere’.
The 53mph rollercoaster has been dogged with faults since it opened two years ago and had broken down earlier in the day.
The empty cart was on the track for a test run and had halted when it was hit from behind by a car packed with 16 visitors. Parkgoers spoke last night of their anger that the ride, which has a world record 14 loops, was operating after a series of faults.
Josh Pilling, 20, said: ‘There had been all sorts of problems with the ride. It kept stopping and starting and people were getting sick of waiting. Then suddenly they sent out a carriage full of people and it stopped halfway up a loop.
‘Suddenly it started again and went headlong into the stationary carriage at the bottom with an earsplitting crunch.
‘People were screaming and crying. They should have shut it down and got engineers i n. I’m just shocked it could happen.
‘Anyone with a pair of eyes would have known not to let the carriage with people head down the loop when there was clearly an obstruction.’
Thomas Healy, 26, a business manager at McDonalds, said he thought the full carriage was about to be evacuated when it stopped. But he added: ‘Suddenly the carriage moved – almost as though staff hit the wrong button – and it went down the l oop and then smashed into the empty carriage.
‘It was horrendous. The impact was massive and the people at the front looked unconscious for a bit. The carriage was crushed at the front and they must have suffered leg injuries. There was one guy whose head was covered in blood.’
Another witness, Olivia Marston, said: ‘The bang was horrendous. Absolutely horrific. Everyone crowded round the area and there were lots of screams.’
Four air ambulances with trauma doctors were sent to the Stafford- shire theme park and a platform was built alongside the crash site to help paramedics reach the injured.
West Midlands Ambulance Service said the most seriously hurt riders were a boy of 18, a man of 27 and their girlfriends, aged 17 and 19. The 12 others suffered minor injuries.
Staffordshire Fire and Rescue sent four pumps, a rope rescue team and an aerial ladder platform.
The resort will be closed today while i nvestigations continue, according to a spokesman. A management source said the ride might be shut for good.
Ian Crabbe, a divisional director for of Alton Towers, said staff were devastated.
He said a full investigation was underway and officials from the Health and Safety Executive were on site. Questioned about earlier technical issues, Mr Crabbe replied: ‘I don’t know the details of that but it will form part of our investigation, as will the possibility of human error. I have been here for six years and this is the most serious incident in that time.
‘I’d say it was the most serious in the history of Alton Towers. Our major concern is with those injured. This ride has had its issues but that’s normal for rollercoasters.
‘I don’t think it would be fair to reflect on those issues and say they are connected – I don’t think they are.’ The park remained open following the 2pm collision.
Marcus Gaines, of the European Coaster Club, said rides had automatic braking systems to ensure carriages stayed safe in separate sectors of the track.
He added: ‘For whatever reason,
‘Screaming and crying’
we have ended up with the computer system not realising that a train has stopped on the track, and it has not held the car in its own sector, allowing a collision to take place.
‘I can’t think of the last time something like that happened in the UK. You are twice as likely to get struck by lightning as be injured on a rollercoaster.’
Steve Wheaton, assistant chief officer for West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: ‘ Of the 16 patients involved I can confirm four of them have significant lower limb injuries and were trapped in the carriage for quite some time.
‘Of the other 12 patients we now believe t hey will be walking wounded patients and the delay has just been in extricating them
from the car. Of the four critically injured with lower limb injuries two of them have gone to the Royal Stoke University Hospital and two of them have gone to the University Hospitals of Coventry and Warwickshire trauma centres.’
The resort’s parent company, Merlin Entertainment, saw more than £160million wiped from its stock market value on news of the incident.
Based in Poole, Dorset, it has run Alton Towers since buying out the Tussauds Group in May 2007.
It is the world’s second-largest visitor attraction operator behind Disney and runs 105 sites, 11 hotels and three holiday villages in 23 countries.
Alton Towers boasts The Smiler has a ‘series of twisted psychological effects including optical illusions, blinding lights and near misses designed to mess with your mind’. It lasts two minutes and 45 seconds and has drops of 98ft.
During a press launch shortly before it opened, 16 journalists had to be rescued when the ride broke down.
Another incident saw riders injured by falling wheels.
In a statement last night, Nick Varney, chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, said: ‘This has been a terrible incident and a devastating day for everyone here. I would like to express my sincerest regret and apology to everyone who suffered injury and distress today and to their families.
‘The safety of our visitors is our primary concern. The park will remain closed until we understand better the cause of this dreadful incident. I would like to thank the emergency services for their swift and effective response.’