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One guest was killed and several more injured when a roller coaster train derailed at a Swedish theme park, hurling riders to the ground.
Credit: Flickr/Arild Vagen
On Sunday, a train at the Jetline roller coaster attraction at Grona Lund Park in Stockholm, Sweden, derailed, sending passengers on board plunging to the ground below. One guest was killed, and nine more sustained injuries necessitating transport to a local hospital.
Grona Lund Park
Grona Lund Park, located in Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden, is part of the Parks & Resorts Scandinavia theme park group and the oldest theme park in the country. It features 30 attractions, six restaurants, a wide variety of entertainment, such as concerts, and more. It’s touted as “a magical world where the impossible becomes possible–old gets young, little gets big, up gets down, and down gets up.”
The Accident
According to The Associated Press, the scene was described by witnesses at the park as chaotic as the front of the train vehicle at the roller coaster attraction looked as though it jumped off the tracks before coming to an abrupt halt. One train car was left tilting toward the ground below.
“The front of the train partly derailed and stopped on the track at a height of between 6 and 8 meters (between 20 and 25 feet),” said Grona Lund Park chief executive Jan Eriksson. “A total of 14 people were on board, of which one person has died, and several are injured.”
BREAKING: A roller coaster accident at Stockholm’s Grona Lund amusement park in Sweden resulted in one fatality and nine injuries, including children. Witnesses reported that the Jetline roller coaster partially derailed during the ride, causing people to be thrown to the ground. pic.twitter.com/ixYocTLRz0
— The Washington Press (@washpressorg) June 25, 2023
The Tragedy
The regional government said the nine injured individuals were transported to a hospital, one of them listed in serious condition. Three of the individuals were children, each of them with minor injuries.
“The car just stops, and people fly out, fall out of the car,” said witness Ziba Assadi, who witnessed the accident as it happened. Assadi was reportedly standing under the coaster tracks, and she saw the wheel assembly of one of the train cars crash to the ground. Other witnesses say that two to three people fell from the ride vehicle, one of whom was able to cling to the track. Photos from the chaotic scene reportedly depict a man sitting below the stopped train atop a beam.
“So he sits there straddling [the beam] and waits,” Assadi said. “There was complete panic.”
The Jetline Roller Coaster
The Jetline Coaster opened at Grona Lund in 1988 and can accommodate 1,300 riders per hour. The steel coaster ride features seven cars per train, and riders are arranged two across a row for a total number of 14 passengers per train. In 1997, the Jetline was modified as a longer, steeper drop was added to increase the thrills of the attraction. While onboard, riders reach speeds of up to 56 miles per hour and experience a G-force of 4.5G. The coaster’s vertical angle measures 80 degrees, and the experience lasts approximately one minute and 30 seconds.
Credit: Flickr/Johan Wistbacka, Jan Headstrom
Grona Lund Park Closure and Investigation
“This should not be allowed to happen,” said Gröna Lund Park spokeswoman Annika Troselius. “Safety is the most important thing for us, and we would never open an attraction if we were not confident that it was safe, so this is something we need to investigate thoroughly.”
Immediately following the coaster accident, the entire theme park was evacuated. Grona Lund will reportedly remain closed for seven days as a full investigation into the accident is conducted to determine what caused the train car to derail. Police have also launched a criminal investigation on possible charges of involuntary manslaughter, causing danger to others, and causing bodily harm.
A Similar Accident at Disneyland Resort, California
The horrific tragedy at Grona Lund Park on Sunday is reminiscent of a similar accident that happened at Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in 2003.
Credit: Becky Burkett/Canva
That year, 22-year-old , a graphic designer and aspiring animator, was seated in the lead passenger car of the vehicle at Disneyland’s Railroad attraction when the unthinkable happened. Two bolts from the locomotive’s left wheel assembly fell off the ride vehicle, setting into motion a terrifying chain reaction of events.
According to the , when the bolts fell from the wheel assembly, they caused “an axle to jam into the railroad’s ties. The locomotive nose-dived, and its rear hit the top of a tunnel. The force snapped a tow bar connecting the locomotive to the lead passenger car, which slammed into the locomotive’s undercarriage.”
Marcelo Torres lost his life in the accident, and ten other Guests were injured as a result of the accident. The Disney Caccepted responsibility for the , saying in a statement from then- spokesman Rob Doughty that Disney “deeply regrets that the tragic occurred and [is] terribly saddened by the grievous pain this caused the Torres family.”
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad/Credit: Disneyland Resort
The accident at Big Thunder Mountain prompted the State of California to hold Disney to higher safety standards. Per the Los Angeles Times:
After the crash, the state ordered Disneyland to retrain maintenance workers, managers, and operators; to require a test run of all cars on before passengers are loaded, and to require that those who perform maintenance on rides be the ones who sign that the work was completed.
