A 15-year-old girl was killed when the Pendulum ride collapsed at Tibidabo in Barcelona, Spain.
The spinning thrill ride collapsed and fell on another ride. A 15-year-old boy was injured and could walk away, but two girls were hospitalized. One remains in the hospital. Pendulum has seats on the end of a long arm and swings back and forth. It goes about 60 mph and is about 140 feet tall.
The park president said part of the support gave way. The cause is not known yet. About four hours before the accident, operation was stopped when employees and visitors noticed a “strange noise.” The maintenance team said it was operating normal, and it resumed operation.
For more, visit Euro Weekly News and Think Spain.
Tags: Accident, amusement park, Death, spain, thrill ride, Tibidabo
It seems that maintenance tells operators a lot that there is nothing wrong with the rides when we hear strange sounds. Sometimes when we think we hear something strange, maintenance tells us that they can't find anything wrong. Luckily we haven't had anything like this happen, but it's still sad to hear that this happened even though the operators knew something was wrong and maintenance didn't catch it. This could have and should have been avoided.
So the entire structure completely collapsed and fell onto ANOTHER RIDE in the park. I've lost all trust in Italian built rides, I was never too fond of them in the first place.
It may not be that simple. What if the concrete below the structure had started to erode and had a failure there? That wouldn't be the manufacturer's fault.
Geronimo Drop at Ghost Town is also by Fabbri, and they've never had problems with it and I loved that ride.
I guess the footer gave way.
Looking at a Youtube video of it running it oscillates too much on just that one boom. It was too much for those footer screws.
It just hasn't been a good week when it comes to amusement park rides. What a tragic event. There was another accident in Maryland on a roller coaster too. Thankfully it looks like there were only minor injuries. Here is the URL if any moderator wants to post it as news too.
3 Kids Hurt in Maryland Roller Coaster Accident