Ride/Park Accidents

[DanJB]

Glenwood Caverns and Soaring Eagle have been fined $205 million for the 2021 accident on the Haunted Mine drop ride - $82 million in damages to the family, and $123 million in punitive damages. The below statement was put up on the park’s Instagram, before unsurprisingly being deleted after a couple of hours:

Our hearts go out to the family of Wongel Estifanos and everyone affected by the tragic accident that happened on September 5, 2021. While the jury allocated significant fault on the other defendant, Soaring Eagle, Inc., the size of the total jury verdict award puts the existence of Glenwood Caverns at serious risk. If the jury verdict remains as it is, hundreds
of local jobs are in peril. Prior to trial, Glenwood Caverns offered Plaintiffs all of its available insurance money, but Plaintiffs refused to accept or ever negotiate a resolution over the past four years despite
our numerous attempts. Soaring Eagle manufactured the Haunted Mine Drop with a defective restraint system that caused this heartbreaking accident. Soaring Eagle certified to Glenwood Caverns that the ride met all applicable standards, but that was not true. They failed to perform the required engineering and risk analyses that would have undoubtedly prevented this death. In addition, Soaring Eagle was aware of two prior ejections from this same restraint design— information they hid from the world. Soaring Eagle failed Glenwood Caverns, failed the
Estifanos family, and failed our community. Glenwood Caverns was devastated by this accident and worked with independent engineers (and not with Soaring Eagle) to redesign and re-engineer the ride to prevent an
accident like this from ever occurring again. Glenwood Caverns is exploring all options so that we can attempt to continue to operate,
serve our guests, and continue to give back to the community.