One person died and several others were injured after an incident on a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia in Georgia. The Department of Police of the County of Cobb is investigating the death at the park near Atlanta.
Michael Owens, the mayor of Mableton, said the city's public safety director was coordinating with local police and park security. Six Flags Over Georgia said it was deeply saddened and offered condolences to the visitor's family, friends and loved ones.
Six Flags Over Georgia in Georgia
Park spokespersons said the team and local authorities responded immediately and were cooperating in the investigation. News helicopter images showed the Goliath roller coaster stopped midway, with workers helping passengers down. Goliath opened in 2006 and rises 60 meters with a 52-meter drop, a 540-degree spiral and a top speed of up to 112 km/h.
Cobb County police inquiry
Authorities have not revealed how the person died or which attraction was involved. Witnesses told local media they saw a man ejected from the ride, and one witness told 11Alive that he fell from the roller coaster onto the roof of another haunted-house-themed attraction.
The ride detail matters because the police account has not named the attraction, while the helicopter images pointed to Goliath. Six Flags classifies Goliath as a level four out of five on its thrill scale, and Six Flags is the largest operator of amusement parks in North America, with 20 amusement parks, 14 water parks and nine resort complexes in Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Six Flags and X2
The death comes a few weeks after a park in southern California announced the closure of the X2 roller coaster after more than 100 people said they had suffered brain injuries from that ride. Six Flags said it removed X2 because it was the right thing to do.
For riders and families at Six Flags Over Georgia, the immediate next step is the police investigation, which must first determine how the death happened and whether Goliath was the ride involved.
