The girl died on Sunday whilst holiday with her family.
An amusement ride on which a six-year-old girl tragically died was intentionally designed without a shoulder restraint in order to make it “more scary.”
The girl died on Sunday after falling from the Haunted Mine Drop, a vertical drop ride, at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado, USA.
In a 911 recording released by authorities, an emergency service dispatcher said the girl had fallen 110 feet while the ride was operating and she was then lying at the bottom of the shaft.
Police said park employees had immediately attempted resuscitation whilst awaiting emergency services, but when they arrived shortly after the incident, they declared her dead at the scene.
On Tuesday night, the Garfield County Coroner’s Office said in a statement that a forensic pathologist had carried out an autopsy on the girl and identified multiple blunt force injuries.
The cause and manner of death, it said, were still pending completion of the investigation.
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A 2017 interview with the ride’s designer from when it was first opened has now been unearthed, in which he said the absence of the shoulder harness was intentional and to make the ride “a little bit more scary.”
Most vertical drop rides, including others by the same designer, are designed with the safety feature, but the one on which the girl died was not.
A 2019 promotional video about the ride shows it only used a seat belt, consisting of a metal rod locking into place across riders’ laps, and no safety bar. The ride then plunged 110 feet in 2.5 seconds.
Despite the absence of the feature, investigators from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Oil and Public Safety, which regulates amusement park rides and leads accident investigations in the state, found the ride to have been in compliance with all regulations.
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It had also passed all third-party inspections since it became operational.
Authorities said the girl was holidaying in Glenwood Springs, where the park is located, with her family.
They added they would not be releasing the child’s name in order to protect her family’s privacy during this difficult time.
