An accident has occurred at Idlewild Park in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where a child reportedly fell off a roller coaster.
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A young boy, reported to NBC News to be 3 years old, fell out of a wooden roller coaster called the Rollo Coaster.
But the park spokesman, Jeff Croushore, did tell the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the child “was talking” and “was alert with his family” after the fall. It doesn’t require seat belts.
The accident comes only days after 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was decapitated on a water slide in Kansas City. The Pennsylvania Amusement Ride Safety Division is investigating the accident and has shut down the ride.
The incident is at least the fourth one this week on U.S. rides. Officials said the vehicle dumped the children due to a “mechanical problem”.
It is the third major incident at a USA amusement park in four days.
On Monday, three children fell 35 feet from a Ferris wheel when their basket overturned at the Greene County Fair in Greenville, Tenn. Any rider under 48 inches on the Rollo Coaster must be accompanied by an adult.
As for previous incidents at the park, Channel 11 News uncovered that a lawsuit was filed against Idlewild after a woman claimed she was hurt on the Wild Mouse roller coaster in 2009. Croushore said the ride will be closed pending an investigation. The older two girls are stable, but the 6-year-old was having seizures and suffered a severe concussion.
The Schlitterbahn WaterPark reopened Wednesday, save for a portion containing the raft ride.
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It prompted a number of additional safety precautions, according to a documentary about the building of the amusement ride, and the ride’s opening was delayed. According to the report, only 61 of the 1,415 injuries sustained on rides in 2011 required overnight treatment at a hospital.
