Follow-Up: Six Flags to Add Seat Belts to Goliath and Similar Coasters After Fatal Georgia Fall; Nine Rides With the Same Restraint Remain Closed
Six Flags Entertainment Corporation president and CEO John Reilly said in a statement on October 23 that the company will install seat belts on the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia in Cobb County, Georgia, and that other coasters with similar restraints will receive the same upgrade. "We are reinforcing safety precautions at our parks and taking additional measures, including adding seat belts on Goliath and other coasters with a similar restraint," Reilly said.
Goliath remains closed pending necessary safety reviews and clearances, and state and local officials are still investigating the October 12 accident. On October 12, Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, 42, of Atlanta, was ejected from his seat on Goliath and died; four other passengers, all minors, were injured. Investigators have not said what went wrong; witnesses said they saw Kariem rise up out of his seat and fall headfirst back into the cart before being ejected, and some people who rode Goliath earlier that day had raised concerns about its restraints. The roughly 3.5-minute ride reaches a height of about 200 feet and speeds of up to 70 mph, and its restraint is a padded clamshell lap bar across riders' thighs, with no seat belt.
In addition to Goliath, eight more Six Flags coasters have been temporarily closed at five other parks in the United States and Canada: Gurnee, Illinois; Jackson Township, New Jersey; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mason, Ohio; and Vaughan, Ontario. All nine offline coasters were manufactured by the Swiss company Bolliger & Mabillard and feature similar clamshell restraints. Six Flags has not said when the rides will reopen, and says it has enlisted independent engineers and ride-inspection professionals to review safety procedures for all rides at its parks. Two non-Six Flags parks, SeaWorld Orlando in Florida and La Ronde in Montreal, Canada, also temporarily closed one clamshell-restraint coaster apiece; SeaWorld's Mako reopened on Tuesday after a week offline, and The Associated Press emailed both parks on October 24 asking whether seat belts or other upgrades were planned.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Six Flags Over Georgia 乐园「歌利亚」过山车入口（资料照片）。照片：hagerman 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: The entrance to the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia. Photo by hagerman, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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