Theme park nightmare takes a happy turn after one attendee falls 25 feet
Is there any theme park horror story scarier than the one where someone falls out of a high-flying ride?
That's exactly what happened at Six Flags Great Escape in Lake George, NY on Saturday -- though the incident thankfully had a happy ending. As an unidentified teenage parkgoer dangled 25 feet above the ground, a crowd gathered below to catch her -- which they did -- once she fell.
A tense video captured and shared on Facebook by Loren Lent, who witnessed the fall, shows us what happened.
In his Facebook post, Mr. Lent thanks the Good Samaritan attendees who acted quickly to save the day. He also expresses his surprise that Six Flags seemingly has no rapid response plan for dealing with situations like this.
"Girl falling from ride at 6 Flags Great Escape and they have NO means to rescue them," Lent wrote. "Thanks to the guys who banded together to catch her and the guy who climbed the tree to move the branches out of the way."
While parkgoers did manage to bring the situation to a safe conclusion before anything truly terrible could happen, Six Flags contends that it does have an action plan for responding to ride malfunctions.
"As part of our annual practice an evacuation drill is conducted in partnership with local emergency personnel on this particular ride each spring," a spokesperson told The Washington Post. "Every situation is unique and requires the appropriate time and tools for the evacuation. We are reviewing our internal procedures to ensure the safety and security of our guests and team members."
The incident occurred on "Sky Ride," a "mellow-paced" cruise over the park in two-person gondolas. It's not clear how the victim, a 14-year-old visitor from Delaware, slipped free, but local police confirmed that she's now at the nearby Albany Medical Center, in stable condition and with no serious injuries.
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
