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News: Japan coaster wreck leaves 1 dead

Posted at 10:41 AM EDT (1441 GMT)

May. 5th, 2007 -- One person was killed when the Fujin Raijin II roller coaster at Expoland in Japan derailed and hit a guardrail on Saturday.

According to park officials, an axle broke, causing the coaster to hit the guardrail. Along with the fatality, reported to be a woman, 21 others on board were injured. An additional 12 onlookers were taken to a hospital after complaints of feeling ill.

The park was closed following the accident, which occurred on Children's Day, a part of "Golden Week", a Japanese national holiday. Saburo Yamada, Expoland's president, offered his heartfelt apologies regarding the accident.

Fujin Raijin II is a Togo stand-up coaster, which opened in 1992. At the time of the accident, it could have been going up to 46 mph.

For more, visit Yahoo! News and Fox News.

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Comments
Nitro Luvr Joined: Aug 2004 Posts: 365 View Park/Ride Count	I started a thread on this before TN posted the story, but it really is unfortunate what has happened. Hopefully there won't be any further injuries. I don't see a picture on the Yahoo site, but here is one that Fox News posted. (link removed - added to main story)
5/5/2007 10:47 AM
Steven Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 7465 View Park/Ride Count	Kinda quick to the punch, and the thread was directed here.
5/5/2007 10:47 AM
Chip Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 7137 View Park/Ride Count	I don't understand hitting the guardrail. This wasn't a car on the highway. I take it the train hit the catwalk along the track.
5/5/2007 11:43 AM
Johnny Upsidedown Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 1791 View Park/Ride Count	The accident appears to have happend during the ride not in the brakes. It appears the inside wheel boggie dislodge and the second cars nose dropped into the running rail and cross ties.
5/5/2007 12:15 PM
Steven Joined: Jun 2001 Posts: 7465 View Park/Ride Count	The catwalk has a guardrail along it. Of course, all coasters in Japan have catwalks.
5/5/2007 11:04 PM
medusa548 Joined: Jul 2005 Posts: 186 View Park/Ride Count	Not all. None of the B&Ms have catwalks, but I'd guess it's because they have track that is fat enough to walk on without a catwalk. But all of the Japanese manufacturers have catwalks in their designs. Even when TOGO built their standups in America they felt obliged to provide catwalks.
5/6/2007 11:53 AM
Michael C Joined: Sep 2002 Posts: 1910 View Park/Ride Count	Wow, Only one person killed. Though this is tragic it could have been much worse.
5/7/2007 12:35 AM

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