Are Amusement Parks Safe? Riders Stuck Upside Down In Australia's Movie World

Passengers who took a ride on the newly unveiled Doomsday Destroyer ride in Movie World, Gold Coast, Australia, on Thursday were left scared after the ride stopped midway resulting in them hanging upside down for three minutes and 25 seconds.

In a video published by 9 News, the passengers could be seen hanging upside down while the ride is static.

In the video, a woman could be heard saying, “These guys are actually stuck up there.”

Around four people were stuck upside down 21-meters in the air at the theme park, 9 News reported.

According to a report by Gold Coast Bulletin, general manager of the theme park, Greg Yong, said, “Earlier today, the ride safety operating systems automatically engaged on the Doomsday Destroyer ride at Warner Bros. Movie World.”

“The guests were safe at all times and the ride continued after 3 minutes 25 seconds, with the guests exiting the ride as normal,” Yong added.

He also apologized for the incident, saying, “We are very sorry for any inconvenience or discomfort caused to our guests, however ride safety is our first priority.”

Medical officials and firefighters did not come to scene of the incident, the report stated.

However, the incident begs a question as to how safe are theme parks in Australia?

Australia’s has quite a history with ride-related injuries and deaths.

According to a 2016 report by KIIS 101.1, an FM radio station in Australia, 37 people were injured at the Royal Adelaide Show in 2000, when the ride named Spin Dragon broke down and dropped a gondola weighing 4.3 tonne on the riders who were waiting in line.

In 2001, an eight-year-old girl was killed and 11 others were injured when an inflatable carriage broke out from a ride at a carnival in Kapunda, South Australia. One of the most serious accidents happened in 1979, when the Ghost Train in Sydney’s Luna Park caught fire and resulted in the deaths of one adult and six children.

However, according to a 2016 report by Escape, an Australian travel news site, David Eager, an associate professor of electrical, mechanical and mechatronic engineering at the University of Technology, Sydney, claimed that Australia had “the most stringent safety requirements in the world.”

Four people died while taking a ride on the Thunder River Rapids in Dreamworld theme park in Gold Coast, Australia on Oct. 2016 due to a suspected malfunction in the conveyer belt which led to the raft on which the passengers were sitting to tip over, the report stated. Four adults died while two children scrambled to safety.

However, Eager said the Dreamworld incident was a one in 834 million event.

He said, “What can happen with things like this, is you get this over-reaction and people think you’ve got to do unnecessary things.”

“When we have accidents we learn from them, and we will change standards — I don’t know in what way but we will make improvements and make sure it never happens again,” he added.

Eager also said the worst outcome would be if people stopped visiting theme parks. He claimed that theme parks were safe and said, “Amusement rides were safe before this happened statistically and they will remain safe afterwards.”

He compared the probability of death in theme parks to the probabilities of deaths taking place while riding an aircraft or while doing scuba diving.

“That’s your probability of death, whereas it’s one in 125 million on an aero plane and one in 200,000 for scuba divers.”

Eager added, “To lose four people on one ride at an amusement park where people go for fun is hard for people to comprehend at a psychological level. But when it’s averaged out over time, it’s an acceptable statistic."

The incident on the Doomsday Destroyer ride is not an isolated case in the Movie World theme park. In 2016, 16 people were stuck on the Green Lantern rollercoaster ride for around 30 minutes due to a “computer fault.” However, the theme park officials confirmed that all passengers on the ride were safely evacuated and described the event as “a brief stoppage.”