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Ride/Park Accidents

Mi-Nigle said:
Joyride collapse at Surajkund Mela kills police inspector and injures dozen others

“A joyride at the Surajkund Mela in Faridabad, India, collapsed on Saturday evening, injuring 13 people and killing a police inspector. The accident occurred when a “tsunami” swing snapped mid-air and fell to the ground.”

Link to video (Reddit)
Click to expand...

I’m not going to link as its grim but my instagram algorithm fed me more footage of this incident. It seemed a lot more people (likely relatives of the passengers) were crushed trying to rescue people as the other arm gave way and the ride dropped onto them 😢
 
Back in the 1990s, I remember hearing that there were two (separate) ride accidents at Drayton Manor – but I have been unable to find any evidence of either one actually happening.

I have posted details below, and so if anybody knows whether either of these are true then I would be grateful to hear about it.

(In the pre-internet era, it was almost impossible to verify the accuracy of stories such as these*)

1) Shortly after the Splash Canyon river rapids ride opened in 1993, somebody allegedly stood up and fell out of the vehicle and into the water, and then became trapped behind the one of the rotating components that transport the vehicles up the ramp and back to the station – which, in turn – either crushed their ribs and/or prevented them from being able to breathe, causing them to unfortunately pass away.

For decades, I was convinced that this story was true – until I heard about another fatal accident on the ride in 2017 (which, this time, definitely did happen), and I remember being surprised that nobody had mentioned the ‘other’ fatality from the 1990s (although some minor incidents between 2011 and 2013 were mentioned).

Is it possible that the accident I described did in fact happen on a river rapids ride, but it took place at a different theme park? Or was the entire story fabricated? Or was it simply not reported widely enough?

2) An Asian woman on the small railway ride choked to death after the end of her long headscarf dropped onto the track and became trapped underneath the wheels, thus pulling it tightly around her neck.

Thinking about it now, I am not certain whether this story is true – simply because headscarves are typically made of light material (presumably to prevent people from overheating in hot weather), and so would the scarf simply have torn apart before it had a chance to cause a serious injury? Or am I wrong in my analysis?

(*Another non-theme park story I heard around the same time was that Polo Mints caused male impotence, and thus only the coloured variety were considered ‘safe’ to eat; I heard it often enough that I never bought any, just in case, but – according to Google – it was probably just an urban myth)

[EDIT: I've just realised that there was an entire thread dedicated to the 2017 incident: https://towersstreet.com/talk/threads/drayton-manor-park-splash-canyon-incident.4404/ ]
 
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The second accident did I happen, one of the Bryans mentioned it at an RCCGB event shortly after the 2017 rapids death. Unfortunately Google is terrible these days and no matter what I search for won’t show me anything except reports on the 2017 accident.
 
DanJB said:
The second accident did I happen, one of the Bryans mentioned it at an RCCGB event shortly after the 2017 rapids death. Unfortunately Google is terrible these days and no matter what I search for won’t show me anything except reports on the 2017 accident.
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I have looked through the British Newspaper Archive*, and I have managed to find a few references to the train fatality at Drayton Manor (confirming that it did in fact happen), and I have also found details of some other incidents at the park of which I was previously unaware; if anybody is interested, then I have pasted details and links below, but please note that the links are unfortunately behind a paywall.

I can't find any details of the alleged 1990s Splash Canyon fatality, but if I see anything about it (or any other noteworthy anecdotes) then I will add them to to this post, instead of creating a new post in the thread each time.

(*Credit to Chris Spargo from YouTube for bringing my attention to this website)

1) In 1988, 28 year-old Balabir Kaur choked to death after her sari became trapped in the axle of the mini train ride, and the ride had stopped**. It was described in another article as the first fatality in the 40 years that the park had been open.

(**If the ride had continued to move then maybe she would have survived as the sari would have torn apart?)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19880621/060/0004

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19880624/008/0008

2) In 1989, two trains on the Python rollercoaster at Drayton Manor collided, apparently because strong winds caused one of the trains to valley (the newspaper describes it as becoming “stuck” rather than “valley”); 12 people were on board (I’m not sure whether it was only on one train, or both), but there were no reports in the article of any injuries; Pinfari came over from Italy in order to inspect the ride, and it was subsequently reopened after it was deemed safe.

Link: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/print/bl/0000525/19890830/060/0007

3) There were two incidents in 1995 (two weeks apart); the first was when the Snake Train fell onto its side (causing injuries which required surgery***), and the second was when a child ran into the control room and started the Ladybird Ride prematurely, causing another child to be dragged along (although there were fortunately no major injuries).

There had also been a similar incident on the Snake Train in 1989 (link below).

(***I wonder if this is partly why the Snake Train was replaced with The Haunting in 1996? The park denied it in one of the links below, but – even before this incident – our family always felt that the Snake Train was an unsafe ride)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950710/054/0005

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000379/19950720/136/0022

Link 3: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950718/011/0001

Link 4: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950801/514/0004

Link 5: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003126/19890612/191/0017

4) In 1976, four wallabies were electrocuted to death after a power cable fell into their enclosure; an employee was also electrocuted, but avoided serious injury as he was wearing rubber boots.

In a separate incident in 1981, a boy stole a meerkat from the zoo, which was later sold by adults to Twycross Zoo (why didn’t they just return it to Drayton Manor?).

(Interestingly, the newspapers had to explain to their readers what wallabies and meerkats were, as they were apparently not common knowledge at the time; wallabies were described as kangaroo-like, and meerkats described as vicious ferrets)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003369/19760625/194/0019

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003369/19810116/015/0015

5) This isn’t major story, but an unnamed rollercoaster (the Buffalo?) stopped above the water in 1990 due to a drive belt failure, and the passengers had to be rescued by a ferry after waiting for 10 minutes.

Later in the year, a worked fell into a pit on the Safari ride and broke his leg.

In 1995, another worker suffered a minor injury on the Klondike Ride.

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003383/19900420/002/0002

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000484/19900817/013/0013

Link 3: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003126/19950508/002/0001

***

P.S. I also remember hearing around the same time that somebody died of a heart attack after riding Nemesis in 1994; unlike the stories above, this story is easily verifiable through Google, though, and the date of the incident (Thursday 14th July 1994) is significant to me personally, because it was literally days before I went to Alton Towers / Nemesis for the first time. I actually remember being told about it in the car on the way there, and - at the risk of sounding completely heartless - it actually made the ride seem even more intense / exciting
 
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[Note: This post was originally in the Drayton Manor thread, but a moderator moved it to this thread instead]

I had a few quick questions regarding the Python / Klondike Gold Mine:-

1) Does anybody know why Drayton Manor replaced the Python with the Klondike Gold Mine in 1995 ?

For years / decades, I had always assumed that the Klondike Gold Mine was simply a repainted / rethemed version of Python, but ex-employees have recently claimed online that it was definitely a different ride, and had a slightly different station (I think).

Given that the track layout was more or less identical to Python, I’m not sure why it needed to be changed? Similar to Nemesis Reborn, most people (including me) probably mistakenly thought that it was just a repainted version of the old ride, and so the expense doesn't seem worth it! (unless there was perhaps an issue with the previous ride?)

2) The brown Klondike ride was apparently relocated to Hayling Island in 2005, but does anybody know what happened to the original yellow Python track? I can't find any record of its fate anywhere!

3) Does anybody know why Drayton Manor replaced Python with G-Force with 2005 ?

At the time, I assumed that Drayton Manor were simply in 'replacement' and/or 'upgrade' mode, given that they had recently replaced Sky Flyer with the similar Pandemonium, and had also replaced the log flume with the similar Stormforce 10 ride a few years earlier, but did Pinfari’s liquidation in 2004 have any bearing on their decision (e.g. the loss of technical support) ?

P.S. On a separate note: I posted links to some old news articles in the Ride Accidents thread earlier today which reported that there was apparently an accident on the Snake Train in 1995 (as well as an earlier incident in 1989), which was perhaps directly responsible for the park deciding to replace it with The Haunting in 1996 (although the park denied this in the report).
 
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Skyscraper said:
Checks RCDB

Goodness, you're right!
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There seems to be some kind of link between AT and Barry Island, as a number of old AT rides ended up there, I think (such as Gravitron).

I'm not sure why, but it might be that John Wardley had some kind of connection there (I haven't got his books to hand in order to check).

I always saw Oakwood as an unofficial affiliate of Merlin as well, as some of the Oakwood rides had parallels to other parks (e.g. Hydro / Tidal Wave, Speed / Saw, and John Wardley's Megafobia / the-never-built-woodie-at-AT).
 
Secret Weapon said:
There seems to be some kind of link between AT and Barry Island, as a number of old AT rides ended up there, I think (such as Gravitron).

I'm not sure why, but it might be that John Wardley had some kind of connection there (I haven't got his books to hand in order to check).
Click to expand...
He certainly did, he kind of started out at Barry Island.
 
Secret Weapon said:
I had a few quick questions regarding the Python / Klondike Gold Mine:-

1) Does anybody know why Drayton Manor replaced the Python with the Klondike Gold Mine in 1995 ?

For years / decades, I had always assumed that the Klondike Gold Mine was simply a repainted / rethemed version of Python, but ex-employees have recently claimed online that it was definitely a different ride, and had a slightly different station (I think).

Given that the track layout was more or less identical to Python, I’m not sure why it needed to be changed? Similar to Nemesis Reborn, most people (including me) probably mistakenly thought that it was just a repainted version of the old ride, and so the expense doesn't seem worth it! (unless there was perhaps an issue with the previous ride?)

2) The brown Klondike ride was apparently relocated to Hayling Island in 2005, but does anybody know what happened to the original yellow Python track? I can't find any record of its fate anywhere!

3) Does anybody know why Drayton Manor replaced Python with G-Force with 2005 ?

At the time, I assumed that Drayton Manor were simply in 'replacement' and/or 'upgrade' mode, given that they had recently replaced Sky Flyer with the similar Pandemonium, and had also replaced the log flume with the similar Stormforce 10 ride a few years earlier, but did Pinfari’s liquidation in 2004 have any bearing on their decision (e.g. the loss of technical support) ?

P.S. On a separate note: I posted links to some old news articles in the Ride Accidents thread earlier today which reported that there was apparently an accident on the Snake Train in 1995 (as well as an earlier incident in 1989), which was perhaps directly responsible for the park deciding to replace it with The Haunting in 1996 (although the park denied this in the report).
Click to expand...

I went through the details of why Python was replaced here, I think the upgrade to G-force was more so the ride looked good on paper and I would assume they got a good deal given it was a new coaster type. The park were in a phase of upgrading hardware and moving away from travelling versions of rides.

The park always had bad accidents earlier on, I would assume most places did, given the primitive ride types and lack of health and safety (mainly because a proper industry had not been created at that point.

The snake train, as did the parks train have some quite bad accidents in the past. I seem to recall in the news and through word of mouth from people at the park that a particularly long scarf worn by a park guest, got caught around the axel of one of the trains wheels causing quite a bad accident. Details of this are scarse, but I believe this was sometime in the 1980's.
 
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DistortAMG said:
The park always had bad accidents earlier on, I would assume most places did, given the primitive ride types and lack of health and safety (mainly because a proper industry had not been created at that point.

The snake train, as did the parks train have some quite bad accidents in the past. I seem to recall in the news and through word of mouth from people at the park that a particularly long scarf worn by a park guest, got caught around the axel of one of the trains wheels causing quite a bad accident. Details of this are scarse, but I believe this was sometime in the 1980's.
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This is correct. I posted some links in the Ride Accidents thread earlier today (from the British Newspaper Archive) which confirmed that an Asian woman was in fact choked to death in 1988 after her headscarf became caught in the train's wheels (I had heard this story in the 1990s, but wasn't sure if it was true). It was supposedly the first fatality in the park's history (but sadly not the last).

I also heard rumours during the 1990s of an alleged fatality on the Splash Canyon (not to be confused with the 2017 incident), but I could not find any evidence of this online.

I also - unintentionally - came across stories of other accidents as well (which I had not previously heard), such as a collision between two trains on Python in 1989 after one car valleyed due to high winds; I assume that the block zone system must have been quite primitive at the time, in order to enable this to have happened? The entire ride layout was visible from the station (and there weren't that many trains to keep count of), and so I'm surprised that nobody noticed. Fortunately, I don't think that there were any severe injuries, though, and Pinfari declared that the ride was safe to be reopened after they flew over from Italy in order to inspect it.

P.S. Thank you for your detailed write-up; I'm not sure where you found this information, but it was very useful (and very much appreciated!).
 
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Secret Weapon said:
This is correct. I posted some links in the Ride Accidents thread earlier today (from the British Newspaper Archive) which confirmed that an Asian woman was in fact choked to death in 1988 after her headscarf became caught in the train's wheels (I had heard this story in the 1990s, but wasn't sure if it was true). It was supposedly the first fatality in the park's history (but sadly not the last).

I also heard rumours during the 1990s of an alleged fatality on the Splash Canyon (not to be confused with the 2017 incident), but I could not find any evidence of this online.

I also - unintentionally - came across stories of other accidents as well (which I had not previously heard), such as a collision between two trains on Python in 1989 after one car valleyed due to high winds; I assume that the block zone system must have been quite primitive at the time, in order to enable this to have happened? The entire ride layout was visible from the station (and there weren't that many trains to keep count of), and so I'm surprised that nobody noticed. Fortunately, I don't think that there were any severe injuries, though, and Pinfari declared that the ride was safe to be reopened after they flew over from Italy in order to inspect it.

P.S. Thank you for your detailed write-up; I'm not sure where you found this information, but it was very useful (and very much appreciated!).
Click to expand...

Interesting about the train accident, I will read up about this later, thanks for finding this information as the information is indeed scarce.
I am unsure about the reasons Python crashed.

To answer your question about where I get the information, I live local to the park to this day, within a couple of miles, which in turn leads me to know plenty of generations of people involved with the park. I've also worked at the park in various capacities including ride operations and engineering. No longer an employee, but you get the idea. Last but not least, I research a lot online too, being a theme park fan!
 
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Secret Weapon said:
I have looked through the British Newspaper Archive*, and I have managed to find a few references to the train fatality at Drayton Manor (confirming that it did in fact happen), and I have also found details of some other incidents at the park of which I was previously unaware; if anybody is interested, then I have pasted details and links below, but please note that the links are unfortunately behind a paywall.

I can't find any details of the alleged 1990s Splash Canyon fatality, but if I see anything about it (or any other noteworthy anecdotes) then I will add them to to this post, instead of creating a new post in the thread each time.

(*Credit to Chris Spargo from YouTube for bringing my attention to this website)

1) In 1988, 28 year-old Balabir Kaur choked to death after her sari became trapped in the axle of the mini train ride, and the ride had stopped**. It was described in another article as the first fatality in the 40 years that the park had been open.

(**If the ride had continued to move then maybe she would have survived as the sari would have torn apart?)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19880621/060/0004

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000484/19880624/008/0008

2) In 1989, two trains on the Python rollercoaster at Drayton Manor collided, apparently because strong winds caused one of the trains to valley (the newspaper describes it as becoming “stuck” rather than “valley”); 12 people were on board (I’m not sure whether it was only on one train, or both), but there were no reports in the article of any injuries; Pinfari came over from Italy in order to inspect the ride, and it was subsequently reopened after it was deemed safe.

Link: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/print/bl/0000525/19890830/060/0007

3) There were two incidents in 1995 (two weeks apart); the first was when the Snake Train fell onto its side (causing injuries which required surgery***), and the second was when a child ran into the control room and started the Ladybird Ride prematurely, causing another child to be dragged along (although there were fortunately no major injuries).

There had also been a similar incident on the Snake Train in 1989 (link below).

(***I wonder if this is partly why the Snake Train was replaced with The Haunting in 1996? The park denied it in one of the links below, but – even before this incident – our family always felt that the Snake Train was an unsafe ride)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950710/054/0005

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000379/19950720/136/0022

Link 3: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950718/011/0001

Link 4: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005569/19950801/514/0004

Link 5: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003126/19890612/191/0017

4) In 1976, four wallabies were electrocuted to death after a power cable fell into their enclosure; an employee was also electrocuted, but avoided serious injury as he was wearing rubber boots.

In a separate incident in 1981, a boy stole a meerkat from the zoo, which was later sold by adults to Twycross Zoo (why didn’t they just return it to Drayton Manor?).

(Interestingly, the newspapers had to explain to their readers what wallabies and meerkats were, as they were apparently not common knowledge at the time; wallabies were described as kangaroo-like, and meerkats described as vicious ferrets)

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003369/19760625/194/0019

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003369/19810116/015/0015

5) This isn’t major story, but an unnamed rollercoaster (the Buffalo?) stopped above the water in 1990 due to a drive belt failure, and the passengers had to be rescued by a ferry after waiting for 10 minutes.

Later in the year, a worked fell into a pit on the Safari ride and broke his leg.

In 1995, another worker suffered a minor injury on the Klondike Ride.

Link 1: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003383/19900420/002/0002

Link 2: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0000484/19900817/013/0013

Link 3: https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/BL/0003126/19950508/002/0001

***

P.S. I also remember hearing around the same time that somebody died of a heart attack after riding Nemesis in 1994; unlike the stories above, this story is easily verifiable through Google, though, and the date of the incident (Thursday 14th July 1994) is significant to me personally, because it was literally days before I went to Alton Towers / Nemesis for the first time. I actually remember being told about it in the car on the way there, and - at the risk of sounding completely heartless - it actually made the ride seem even more intense / exciting
Click to expand...

Going back to the 'potential' 1993 Splash Canyon accident, I am pretty certain this never happened. There was also zero mentions of this accident in the HSE reports following the 2017 fatality, something that almost certainly would be mentioned, had it been true. This evidence (or lack of) in the HSE reports lead me to beleive this incident never happened in 1993.
 
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