An absolutely tragic event with a horrific outcome, at this time thoughts go out to all involved especially those who knew the girl either through school, socially and of course close family and friends.
What happened and how is at this time only speculation, and until further details are announced/released then no more can be done.
If she was standing up or there was an element of horseplay then what controls are/were in place to prevent this?
earlier on it was mentioned that people had been messing around on this ride, in my opinion anyone found to be deliberately acting in a manner that endangers themselves or others should be ejected from the park and prevented from admission to that park and others for a set period of time or life, and the banned list should be publicised to make people aware that there is a zero tolerance approach to horseplay and inappropriate behaviour to discourage others.
As for Big T
I would be surprised if an adult was not on the ride with children that young, (11 is very young) I know at my daughter's school they always ask for parent volunteers for trips like this, but we really shouldn't jump to any conclusions until we get the full details.
when i was younger i went on many school/scout/youth group trips to various theme parks, and we were pretty much left to our own devices after being put in groups.
I am now in the midst of organising a Scout trip camping inside Alton towers on the lawns at the bottom of towers street as an adult leader, We've done this before and the usual method of operation when the theme park is open is that the Scouts are grouped up and sent out to enjoy the park on their own without direct adult supervision if they want to split/change groups they can do they also have the leaders mobile phone numbers and instructions on what to do if lost or missing members of their group. Leader wise a few of us will also be out enjoying the rides and bumping into the scouts, or giving them a quick tour of the place if they are up to going on the big rides ( and can hack the pace of trying to get all the big rides done before lunch)
The other option is to spend all day with a few other Scout and guide leaders looking at the gardens ( and hearing moans that they are not maintained as they were back in the 60's and 70's)
A couple of years ago we did a Scout trip to Holland and used the same system at Walibi world, and in Amsterdam city centre - these are kids aged from 10 to 14