ATLANTA — A rising variety of amusement parks have shut down curler coasters as police and state regulators examine what induced a person to fall out of his seat and plummet to his loss of life at a Georgia park.
Sea World Orlando in Florida and La Ronde theme park in Montreal, Canada, confirmed on Thursday that they had briefly closed rides, bringing the overall variety of curler coasters halted to 11.
Police and a state regulatory company are investigating what induced Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a 42-year-old college worker from Atlanta, to fall from the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday.
Witnesses described seeing him ejected from the coaster; some individuals who rode the Goliath earlier than him that day mentioned that they had issues about its restraints.
9 of the curler coasters taken out of service have the identical producer and an identical restraint system because the Goliath at Six Flags.
Mother says her son’s restraint didn’t work correctly
Erica Billups mentioned her son and daughter rode Goliath about an hour earlier than Kariem’s loss of life and encountered an issue with the restraint on one seat.
Her son initially sat in that seat and tried to lock it, however then moved when it repeatedly turned unlocked.
The curler coaster embarked with the seat empty and the harness up, she mentioned in a publish on X.
She confirmed the publish in a textual content message to The Related Press on Thursday.
She mentioned employees didn’t inform her children there was an issue.
Summer time Bates, who was on the Georgia park along with her husband and three youngsters and noticed Kariem fall, advised the AP beforehand that her older two youngsters saved making an attempt to push their restraints down tighter whereas on the trip.
She understood why they had been doing that later when she was on the coaster, she mentioned, as a result of the restraints didn’t really feel safe.
Six Flags didn’t instantly reply to an e-mail for touch upon any points with restraints.
Not less than one of many different closures is for security
La Ronde in Montreal mentioned considered one of its coasters — additionally named Goliath — is offline “whereas we conduct an intensive security overview in collaboration with the trip’s producer.”
Sea World Orlando mentioned that it closed its Mako curler coaster with no set date to reopen.
Neither La Ronde nor Sea World Orlando mentioned why these particular rides had been closed.
Each had been manufactured by the Swiss firm Bolliger & Mabillard, which additionally constructed the Goliath trip in Georgia and eight of the opposite coasters that Six Flags closed.
Bolliger & Mabillard declined Thursday to reply questions in regards to the shutdowns.
In an up to date record of trip closures offered Thursday, Six Flags not included the Goliath coaster at its Six Flags Magic Mountain park in California.
The coaster has a unique producer and restraint system from the others.
Six Flags had listed it as closed earlier within the week.
On-line pictures and movies of a lot of the closed coasters present every geared up with so-called “clamshell” restraints, mounted in entrance of every seat on a vertical bar that sits between the rider’s knees.
The bar locks the padded restraint into place over the rider’s lap and higher legs.
It’s unclear from the photographs whether or not any of these coasters even have seat belts or different secondary restraints. Goliath in Georgia has no such backup restraints.
Dennis Speigel, a theme park guide and previous president of the Worldwide Affiliation of Amusement Parks and Points of interest, a commerce group, mentioned the same restraint methods are virtually definitely why a lot of the coasters had been closed.
Speigel mentioned they’re prone to stay shut down till investigators have decided what went flawed on the Georgia coaster, however he mentioned that “clearly it was one thing with the restraint.”
Curler coaster producers determine what kind of restraints to make use of after contemplating velocity, pressure and the observe’s transitions, mentioned Brian D. Avery, a College of Florida professor and amusement trip security skilled.
He advocates the usage of a backup restraint for riders, however there’s a long-running debate within the trade over whether or not that may enhance wait occasions, Avery mentioned.
Bolliger & Mabillard says it’s investigating
The corporate mentioned in an e-mail it might haven’t any additional remark till it had a “higher understanding of what transpired” on Monday.
Kariem was thrown from his seat and struck different patrons earlier than touchdown under the trip. Goliath, considered one of Six Flags Over Georgia’s headline points of interest, towers above the park’s entrance.
It opened in 2006 and incorporates a collection of hills and turns. It doesn’t take riders the other way up, however its first hill rises to 200 ft (61 meters) and it has a prime velocity of 70 miles per hour (112 kilometers).
Nick Mendenhall, who had simply ridden Goliath together with his son and was watching the coaster automobiles passing overhead, mentioned it regarded like Kariem was hovering as a result of the automobile was transferring beneath him.
He fell headfirst again into the coaster, Mendenhall mentioned, after which was ejected from the trip on its closing flip.
Six Flags has confronted authorized bother earlier than
A category-action lawsuit filed by traders in 2025 alleges that Six Flags hid the poor state of its amusement parks — together with long-neglected upkeep — forward of its merger with main amusement park operator Cedar Truthful.
“Previous to the Merger, Legacy Six Flags had for years deferred or foregone primary park upkeep, operational enhancements, infrastructure repairs, and trip design and growth updates,” the grievance mentioned.
The corporate additionally lower staffing to scale back prices, it alleges.
Timothy Loranger, a California lawyer who sued Six Flags in a deadly case, mentioned it’s a constructive step that the theme park chain closed down rides at different parks as a precaution.
Loranger represented the household of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley, who died after driving the X2 curler coaster in 2022 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
“In all situations, X2 had many stories of damage prior to now, and as an alternative of doing a deep dive investigation into the trip, they did issues like blame the passengers, the injured individual for not sitting correctly or holding their head towards the headrest or they blamed an imaginary pre-existing situation,” Loranger mentioned.
Six Flags completely closed the X2 trip final month.
Georgia park to reopen
Six Flags Over Georgia is ready to reopen on Friday. The Goliath, nonetheless, shouldn’t be anticipated to be working.
The park, which has a few dozen curler coasters, is in Mableton, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.
