NEWS: Pyrenees at Parque Espana reopened after accident

[thomas2]

I went to Shima Spain Village today hoping to ride Pyrenees but to my shock the ride was closed. I asked the information desk and they told me an accident happened some time ago where a child received wounds while riding on the rollercoaster. I didn't get more information on how this happened because they weren't too fishy about telling me. I asked when the rollercoaster would reopen and they said it's not confirmed yet, but it's certain that it wouldn't open this week. They are at the moment investigating the ride (I assume because of strict new rules after the Expoland death).

 

EDIT: I checked some newspapersites :

 

I made an English translation for those that can't read Japanese.

 

Shima Spain Village: 6th grade boy fractures bone after hitting face into restraint

 

On may 25th around 2:10pm, a 6th grade boy (11 years) from Kobe municipal Higashinada school in Kobe city sustained serious injuries breaking the lower soquet of his right eye after riding an inverted rollercoaster called Pyrenees at Shima Spain Village located in Mie prefecture, Shima city, Isobe town, Sakazaki. It seems that he hit his face hard into the restraint. The Mie prefectural police, Toba departement stated that there was nothing abnormal about the machine itself and is investigating the cause.

 

According to the above-mentioned authorities, the rollercoaster has 8 rows of 4 seats, and the boy rode in the front row. The restraints cover passengers to the left and right and keeps the body in place. People shorter than 130cm or younger than 10 years cannot board the train, but the boy met all requirements and could ride. The restraint is covered in cushions and there were no abnormalities, the police stated.

 

The boy was at the park on a school trip. After getting off the rollercoaster he had a nosebleed and complained about his right eye hurting.

 

According to Shima Spain Village, Pyrenees is an attraction with a top speed of 100km/h and drops down from 45m in the air. Spain Village postponed operation on Pyrenees at 4pm.

 

The business planning departement of Shima Spain Village stated "We show sympathy to the boy who got injured. At the moment we are gathering information to determine the cause of this accident".

 

Mainichi newspaper, may 25th, 10:22pm (last modification on may 26th, 9:39am)

 

志摩スペイン村：安全バーに顔打ち、小６男児が骨折

 

　２５日午後２時１０分ごろ、三重県志摩市磯部町坂崎のテーマパーク「志摩スペイン村」で、つり下げ式ジェットコースター「ピレネー」に乗っていた神戸市東灘区本庄町、市立東灘小６年の男児（１１）が、右眼窩（がんか）底骨折の重傷を負った。安全バーに顔を強く打ちつけたらしい。三重県警鳥羽署は装置に異常がなかったか、原因を調べている。

 

　同署によると、ジェットコースターは４席ずつ８列あり、男児は最前列に乗っていた。乗客は安全バーで体の左右を覆われ、体を固定。身長１３０センチ未満、１０歳未満は乗車できないが、男児は条件を満たし、乗り方にも問題はなかった。安全バーはクッション材で覆われており、異常はなかったという。

 

　男児は修学旅行で来園。ジェットコースターから降りた際、鼻血を出して「右目が痛い」と訴えたという。

 

　志摩スペイン村によると、ピレネーは最高時速１００キロで高さ４５メートルから一気に下降するアトラクション。スペイン村は事故を受け、午後４時からピレネーの運転を見合わせた。

 

　志摩スペイン村営業企画部は「けがをされたお子さんはお気の毒に思います。現在原因を究明すべく、情報を集約中」とコメントした。【福泉亮】

【関連記事】

 

毎日新聞　2010年5月25日　22時22分（最終更新　5月26日　9時39分）

http://mainichi.jp/select/jiken/news/20100526k0000m040112000c.html?inb=ra

 

Apparently the accident happened almost a full month ago on may 25th. A 11 year old boy who was at the park on a school trip rode the coaster and during the ride somehow hit his eye against the restraint which broke his lower eye soquet of his right eye. When he got off the ride he had a nosebleed and shouted 'my right eye hurts'.

 

Has this ever happened before (hurting yourself on a B&M restraint)? Seems like a strange accident. Hopefully the ride will reopen soon!

 

ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and added a translation of the news article you posted, plus I updated the thread slightly to have a more descriptive title and subtitle. Thank you again for sharing this with us!

Edited July 10, 2010 by wrebbit

[Chris Benvenuto]

^ B&M invert restraints are hard as rocks at times. Hopefully this encourages B&M to use a firm, yet softer foam for their restraints.

 

I've gotten cold-cocked on Raptor in the past, along with Great Bear at Hersheypark. I'm not surprised.

[Skycoastin Steve]

I blame Intamin.

[thomas2]

Thanks for the edit, altough by safety bar they mean the harnass. Just making things clear for people who might get confused with the terms.

[Emiroo]

Fixed:

 

I blame faulty Intamin cable.

[Inukaza]

Wait, I'm not getting something. Why would you say it's closed indefinitely if in the article it doesn't say anything?

 

Also, this reminds me of the "When will the first B&M coaster be closed down for good" thread.

[Carnage]

That "translation" is painful to read.

[DarkStitch626]

That "translation" is painful to read.

LMAO yes especially painful to laugh at this.

 

" A safety bar is covered with cushions, unusual, he said"

 

Okay, so its unusual for the restraint to be covered by padding, what do they want a simple metal bar?

[thomas2]

Wait, I'm not getting something. Why would you say it's closed indefinitely if in the article it doesn't say anything?

 

Also, this reminds me of the "When will the first B&M coaster be closed down for good" thread.

 

Because I was at the park yesterday and asked multiple people when it would reopen. They all said it'll reopen when they found the cause of this accident but noone could (obviously) put a date on that. It's been closed for a full month now. Also the article is from may 25th.

 

Anyway I'll translate the article myself.

 

EDIT: translation complete! I hope it's not too bad since neither japanese nor english are my first languages

[ansley]

I have a feeling that they are barking up the wrong tree. I would guess that he didn't hit his head on the restraint but some other object was in the air. He was in the front row. Could have been something that was thrown, that fell off the coaster, a tree piece, who knows? I doubt he did on the restraint. I know people have been hit by flying objects on coasters and broken bones, received eye injuries, cuts, and/or bruises. In most cases it is something that came from another passenger, like a phone, keys, camera, etc. This would be a little harder to figure out, since he was in the front row.

 

Ted

[thomas2]

That could always be the case, but it's very unlikely. There are no trees under/close to the coaster and apart from one or two places you cannot go under it. It could be that he was hit with something from his fellow passengers but it's Japan, if the rules are that you have to remove all your items from your pockets (assuming that's also the case at Pyrenees since they did that at Gran Montserrat), customers will remove them. Of course there can always be someone who didn't obey the rules. But I'm sure they questioned the boy thoroughly as to find out what happened and I don't see how you can confuse being hit in the eye with an object and hitting your face on the restraint.

 

If they think it was a loose item than why are they investigating the whole rollercoaster for a month now? I saw them entering and leaving the station all the time. Seems a bit weird to do if it wasn't ride-related.

 

Here's a picture I took yesterday to show there's no trees under the coaster.

[Loefet]

I would guess that he hit his face on the restraint, there are a few transitions on Pyrenees that are pretty snappy so there is several places where a "non experienced" rider could mash his/hers face to the restraint, which on most B&M's are really hard. And seeing that he was around the lower limit, which could mean that his head were low compared to the restraints, which would definitely add to the "hit his face on the restrain" theory.

 

Also something that is worth to be noted is that B&M Inverts around the world have a limit of 140 cm or 54" which is 10 cm taller than what Pyrenees have. So I think that the result of this could mean that they will raise the limit of the ride if/when they reopen it...

[thomas2]

http://www.parque-net.com/news/10070818/10070818.html

 

Pyrenees is back open from july 9th. According to the park website they have added an extra protection cushion to the lower part of the restraint. Following test runs with this new addition, the park has reopened the ride.

 

I will try to go there and see what this extra cushion is. Can't wait to ride Pyrenees!

[davisal771]

I had always figured that hitting your face against B&M restraints would be painful. However I didn't think it could happen...

[mightbeawannabe]

^Neither did I, but if it can happen on a Boomerang of SLC, chances are it will eventually happen on a B&M. It seems though that the situation was more or less resolved and all is well for coaster.

[robbalvey]

I will try to go there and see what this extra cushion is. Can't wait to ride Pyrenees!

Thank you wrebbit! Please report back. Very curious about this one as I think that Pyrenees is one of the best coasters in Japan (2nd only to Kawasemi) and I'd hate to see it get a modification to diminish that.

 

--Robb

[thomas2]

Actually no need to wait for me, I found some pictures on the internet of the new cushion that has been added. It also states that the child hit his face against the buckle that's at the bottom of the restraint (clearly visible in the first picture). He did not hit his face on the two metal thingies where you can hold yourself.

 

The new cushion is 17x25cm big and 10cm thick, which is quite big. I don't know how this will affect the ride but I'll test it out and report back. According to the source I found the ride experience doesn't change at all, but we'll see.

How it was before. Give his short stature the child could reach the buckle with his face and hit into it during the ride.

Here's the new configuration. It looks rather bulky but I shall test it myself.

[Hayzle]

I find it weird that this has never been an issue on any other B&M coaster until now.. The inverts, loopers, floorless all have similar if not the same restraints yet no other park has ever had this happen or made this modification. I think the kid who hurt himself was too small to be on the ride and the operators never realized it

[JimmyBo]

Their new restraint looks like some sort of bondage experiment.

[CoasterPrince]

It looks like they duct taped a B&M Hyper restraint to it.

[andyuk200523]

Interesting modification - I wonder if this issue will make B&M Modify their buckle system from now on?

 

They could always take an idea similar to that of the Intamin Restraints - where the buckle clips in to the bottom of the restraint? May make it easier for this to never happen again.

[mightbeawannabe]

^Or on the front section, perhaps?

 

But this just looks ridiculous and crude. It's clearly not a modification done by B&M, and I think that it's similar to Disney installing the brake part on CaliScream and Intamin not claiming responsibility for the accident that occurred. I hope it doesn't lessen the ride experience, it looks quite forceful.

[thomas2]

I find it weird that this has never been an issue on any other B&M coaster until now.. The inverts, loopers, floorless all have similar if not the same restraints yet no other park has ever had this happen or made this modification. I think the kid who hurt himself was too small to be on the ride and the operators never realized it

 

Pyrenees is the only B&M inverted rollercoaster with a 130cm height limit while the others have 140cm.

[davisal771]

.

[DBru]

^^Wild Fire at SDC actually has a similar height requirement (52in).

 

I wonder if this incident will make them rethink that...?