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Incident on The Smiler 02/06/2015

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Forbidden Valley is usually always quieter in the mornings. Although it has only really been like that since The Smiler opened.
 
Some new photos of the rescue have been released. They're on the Mirror website (not sure whether linking is ok?) Edit: Also a story on the BBC with some comments from rescuers.
 
Have some of the pictures :).

From the mirror:
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alton-towers-crash-new-pictures-6165156
PAY-Smiler-rollercoaster-images.jpg


From express and star:
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/...shows-horror-of-smiler-crash-at-alton-towers/
13926398.jpg


From BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-stoke-staffordshire-33706903
_84554781_altontowers1.jpg
 
Good to know that amongst all that life saving effort, someone WITH ACCESS TO THE AREA's first thought was "Should I help out? Nah... let's take some photos!"
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Good to know that amongst all that life saving effort, someone WITH ACCESS TO THE AREA's first thought was "Should I help out? Nah... let's take some photos!"
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They are photos that the emergency services took. I'm sure whoever took them was also doing their best and was probably asked to take them.

:)
 
Scene overview photo are used in may different ways. One is to show the medical team at the receiving hospital. There would be more, however they would be secured or deleted.
 
Makes sense when I think further about it. I guess the pictures can be used for training future rescuers, etc.
 
More than likely image grabs from an emergency services body cam, those things are amazingly high quality now!
 
The fire officer in charge of the rescue has said that it was the most challenging rescue operation of his career, and he has 21 years of experience. He told the crews at the start of the operation that it would likely be the most technical rescue that they will ever carry out. And being filmed live by a TV helicopter meant they were under even more scrutiny. By all accounts they did such an amazing job!

:)
 
Tom said:
^ The press have picked up on that now. It took the Mirror a couple of days but they did eventually.

The reality is that the smaller parks aren't as well known to the public. Incidents there don't sell papers.
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Likely she sold her story to some rag. Hope they do open the smiler for the end of the season, I miss it so much!
 
Going back to Mr Varneys comments about smiler being closed for the summer. If we were being super ambitious and read into the smiler could be opened for scarefest. What kind of leadtime would we expect. Testing for days? Weeks or months leading upto the event?
 
They would want to do many hours of testing, so much that I don't think it could be done before the end of the season without testing it during the day, which I don't think they would want. I guess it could be done on nights but I do find it unlikely and I am reliably informed that they won't operate it again this year.
 
Tom said:
They would want to do many hours of testing, so much that I don't think it could be done before the end of the season without testing it during the day, which I don't think they would want. I guess it could be done on nights but I do find it unlikely and I am reliably informed that they won't operate it again this year.
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Ahh thats a shame. cant wait to ride it once it re opens
 
Dave said:
If I was Merlin I would want the ride open this season. Whenever they open it they will get bad press, better to get it over this season.
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They might not actually have a timeframe

Could be a case of damage limitation might be not working so How obout open it and get it all out of the way and people could come just to ride it. The way people think is normally backwards tbh anyway. i know people who wont go as smiler is down and why pay £50 to go when best ride is off.
 
I think testing is likely to start behind closed doors and that would be after any improvements to the control systems are implemented so we could still be looking at next season but I totally agree that given the opportunity they should try to do it this year and get all the bad press out of they way in 1 season but I do think we could see change to the theaming over the closed season as the smiler and ministry of joy don't really fit any more which is a real shame but not sure they can call it that given the nature of people's injuries
 
Dave said:
If I was Merlin I would want the ride open this season. Whenever they open it they will get bad press, better to get it over this season.
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I do agree actually, but there is no evidence they do see it that way as I suspect they would be allowed to operate the ride now if they wanted to. I suspect that the calculation is that opening at the start of next season would make the most sense.
 
IMO should just open it now and get it over and done with, it can't make the season any more worse than it already is.
People are staying away in their thousands already, may even improve guest numbers
 
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