Disaster Teenage boy, 14, dies after plunging from 400ft drop tower ride at Orlando's ICON Park [Video] - Teen was taken to hospital but died from his injuries, Orange County police said.

Archived video of the fall referenced in the article (but not included), fetched from YouTube (likely to be deleted soon). NSFL. Don't watch if you don't want to see someone splatter at the 3:40 timestamp:



A teenager has died after falling from a drop ride at a theme park in Orlando, Florida

The 14-year-old fell from the plunging ride - the world's tallest free-standing drop tower - at ICON park, just after 11pm on Thursday.

The teen, who has not yet been identified, was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries, Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

Terrifying footage captured the horrific accident and the screams of witnesses as the boy fell from the ride, which rotates around a tower as it rises in the air before plunging to the ground at 75 miles per hour.

The ride, the Orlando Free Fall, opened in December 2021, stands at 430ft tall and can accommodate up to 30 people.

The vehicle rotates around a central tower as it rises. After it reaches the top, riders tilt forward and face the ground briefly before free-falling at approximately 75 miles per hour.

It was not immediately clear how the teenager became free from the ride's seat belt or how many people were on the tower at the time.

ICON Park on International Drive has not yet commented on the tragedy. Police have opened an investigation into the incident.

A teenager has died after falling from a drop ride at ICON theme park on International Drive in Orlando, Florida just after 11pm on Thursday

The teen, who has not yet been identified, was taken to hospital but succumbed to his injuries, Orange County Sheriff’s Office confirmed.

It comes less than two years after a park employee died after falling 200 feet from the Orlando StarFlyer attraction.

The 21-year-old employee was performing a safety check about halfway up the 450-foot-tall ride when he plummeted to his death just before 8am on September 14, the Orange County Sheriff's Office stated.

The worker struck a platform below the ride at ICON Park on International Drive in Orlando and went into cardiac arrest, according to first responders who were called to the scene.

The man was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries.

The swing ride opened to the public in 2018. According to the description on the attraction's official site, StarFlyer has no age limit and no weight limit, and the minimum height required to go on the ride is just 44 inches.

The ride is made up of 24 double seats that travel up and down and around the giant tower for 3-4 minutes.

At the time of the fall, the worker was about halfway up the 450-foot-high ride, billed at the world's tallest swing ride

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10651331/Teen-dies-fall-Florida-amusement-park-ride.html
https://archive.ph/nLadc
 
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That's fucking horrifying, looks like the restraint separated from the bottom and then lifted and he had no idea what was going on till he hit the ground.

I feel sorry for him and his family.

One question I want to ask is what caused this was it lack of maintenance? a lot of these parks just shut down during covid and rides like this are complex machines and normally get regular servicing that would catch things likely to fail before they do fail and if they are in a rush to get the park back into action they might skip some checks and it lead upto this tragic accident.

Edit -
Looking at it this might have failed before the drop, or on the accent - but I'm thinking of basic safety requirements here - safety restraints that work by hydrolics are meant to have a safety contact trigger fire no fire system (there is a name for this for rides but I'm not sure about it but I've got a working knowledge of hydrolics not park systems) and if a safety system fails they are designed to blow off pressure slowly and return to a resting position if that didn't fail that becomes a mechanical failure like a Pin giving way etc, but those things are suposed to have a 10x1 failure loading under any circumstance.
 
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God, do you hear that wet splat? And the blood seeping out. He split open like an overly ripe grape. I ain't ever get on one of these fucking things and I never plan to.
I mean I hear plops like in video games and movies, that was a fucking wet one. Holy shit.

I hear a tiny bit of bone crack in there too. good fuck someones getting fired
 
cool you had parents that loved you

not everyone gets those ;_;
What if his parents sent him on the rides hoping he'd get thrown off?

My dad used to always tell me to hang my head out the rollercoaster because it was more fun, only after I turned 18 didn I learn he had a massive insurance policy out on me, and never paid child support.
 
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