ATLANTA – The number of amusement parks suspending roller-coaster operations is growing as police and state officials examine how a rider was thrown from his seat and killed at a Georgia theme park.
Sea World Orlando in Florida and La Ronde in Montreal, Canada, confirmed Thursday that they had temporarily closed rides. The moves bring the total number of suspended roller coasters to 12.
Authorities are investigating the death of Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a 42-year-old Atlanta school employee who fell from the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday. Witnesses said they saw him ejected from the ride, while some earlier riders reported concerns about the coaster’s restraints.
Ten of the coasters removed from operation were made by the same manufacturer and use a restraint system similar to the one installed on Georgia’s Goliath.
Mom says her son’s restraint didn’t work properly
Erica Billups said her son and daughter rode Goliath roughly an hour before Kariem died and encountered trouble with the restraint on one seat. Her son first took that seat and tried to secure the harness, but moved after it repeatedly unlocked. The train left with the seat unoccupied and its harness raised, Billups wrote on X.
Billups confirmed the account in a text message to The Associated Press on Thursday.
She said park employees did not inform her children that the seat had a problem.
Summer Bates, who was visiting the Georgia park with her husband and three children and witnessed Kariem’s fall, previously told the AP that her two older children repeatedly pushed their restraints tighter during the ride. She later understood their concern when she rode the coaster herself, saying the restraints did not feel secure.
Six Flags did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about possible restraint problems.
At least one of the other closures is for safety
La Ronde said its coaster, also called Goliath, would remain closed “while we conduct a thorough safety review in collaboration with the ride’s manufacturer.”
Neither La Ronde nor Sea World Orlando explained why their particular rides had been taken offline. Both coasters were built by Swiss manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, the company that also made Georgia’s Goliath and eight other coasters closed by Six Flags. Bolliger & Mabillard declined to answer questions about the shutdowns Thursday.
Photos and videos posted online show that 10 of the closed coasters use “clamshell” restraints. The devices are mounted on vertical bars between the rider’s knees and lock padded restraints across the lap and upper legs.
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The images do not make clear whether any of those 10 coasters also use seat belts or another secondary restraint. Georgia’s Goliath has no backup restraint system.
Manufacturers choose a coaster’s restraint design based on factors including speed, force and the transitions built into the track, said Brian D. Avery, a University of Florida professor and amusement-ride safety specialist.
Avery supports adding a secondary restraint for riders, although he said the amusement-park industry has debated for years whether such systems would lead to longer lines and increased wait times.
Bolliger & Mabillard says it is investigating
The manufacturer said in an email that it would not comment further until it had a “better understanding of what transpired” Monday.
Kariem was thrown from the coaster and struck other riders before falling to the ground beneath the attraction. Goliath, one of Six Flags Over Georgia’s signature rides, rises above the park entrance. The coaster opened in 2006 and carries riders through a series of hills and turns. Although it does not go upside down, its first hill climbs 200 feet (61 meters), and the ride reaches a top speed of 70 mph (112 kph).
Nick Mendenhall, who had just ridden Goliath with his son and was watching the coaster cars passing overhead, said it looked like Kariem was hovering because the car was moving underneath him. He fell headfirst back into the coaster, Mendenhall said, and then was ejected from the ride on its final turn.
The park is scheduled to reopen Friday
The Goliath, however, is not expected to be running.
The park, which has about a dozen roller coasters, is in Austell, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta.
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Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press writer Dylan Lovan in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report.
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