Ferris Wheel Accident at Greene County Fair

[GCI Wooden]

It appears that earlier today 3 children fell out of a ferris wheel at the Greene County Fair in Tennessee.

 

Article: http://wate.com/2016/08/08/3-people-fall-from-ferris-wheel-at-greene-county-fair/

 

GREENEVILLE (WATE) – Three children fell from a Ferris wheel at the Greene County Fair on Monday night.

 

Authorities in Greeneville say one of the baskets flipped over around 6:15 p.m. causing three children to fall 35 to 40 feet. All three victims were children, the oldest of whom is 16, from two families. All three were rushed to Johnson City Medical Center. Two were taken by helicopter and one by ambulance.

 

Police say all three children are alert and awake at the hospital.

 

WJHL spoke with an eyewitness, Gregory Lynthacum of Washington County, Tennessee, said he saw three young girls fall from the Ferris wheel when their car appeared to get caught as the wheel lifted them upwards spilling them out.

 

“It was like watching water pouring from a glass,” Lynthacum said. “They bounced off the metal bridging of the ride and eventually hit the ground.”

 

Lynthacum said the girls’ injuries appeared to be very serious. He said the ride eventually stopped after people on the ground began screaming at the ride operators.

 

Tennessee Bureau of Investigation assisted with the investigation for a time, but later said it was no longer assisting.

 

All fair rides are being shut down until a third-party inspector can come to Greeneville. Non-mechanical rides and attractions will remain operational.

 

Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development said last week there had been four amusement device accidents just since July 1 in the state and urged riders and operators to follow all safety guidelines.

 

Photo Source

[thrillseeker4552]

How awful! This one was clearly a ride malfunction. Thoughts with everyone involved. Hopefully they are all OK.

 

This is a weird observation, but amusement park incidents always seem to happen in pairs.

[Mr. Corn]

How terrible!! I'm slightly confused on how the car got like this, I'm sure that an investigation will tell us more. Prayers for the familys involved

[larrygator]

This is a weird observation, but amusement park incidents always seem to happen in pairs.

 

No matter what the situation/circumstance you can always find a similar occurrence within a short time frame.

[DirkFunk]

Mulligan wheel with two cars tethered together....that's a new one. The wires around the ride should be symmetrical. They aren't. That's interesting.

[Nrthwnd]

Edited rant out.

 

This is nuts. I hope the kids make it through, okay.

[Rill'o'beily]

Im hoping the kids will be fine, but how the hell does even happen? How the heck did the gondolas get stuck like that?

[coasterbill]

Wow, that's quite the piece of sh*t Ferris Wheel you've got there...

[DirkFunk]

Im hoping the kids will be fine, but how the hell does even happen? How the heck did the gondolas get stuck like that?

 

If you look closely, you can see that one of the guide wires (far side) that goes around the center leads to a point between the two cars. If I have to guess (and I do in this instance), it somehow gets unhooked, springs out, and then...I have no idea. I don't know enough about the mechanics and it doesn't make sense to me that it alone doing that would pull the cars up like that. I also don't get how it would hook onto two cars to cause that.

[canadianparkfan]

Im hoping the kids will be fine, but how the hell does even happen? How the heck did the gondolas get stuck like that?

My thoughts exactly

[wheelmaker]

The cross cables are normal, this is a High Lite expo type ferris wheel with large gondola tubs. This is not a Mulligan Built ferris Wheel. Very Tragic incident and i am sure investigation will provide an answer to the cause. Online speculation does not help anything. The pic really does not afford much info to make assumptions. Thoughts should focus on well wishes for the children involved and the families

[DBru]

I've always been terrified of Ferris Wheels because of incidents like this.

 

It just seems like every time a carriage flips over an a wheel, the people inside fall out. Have there been any reported incidents of this kind of thing happening where the riders held on and didn't fall to the ground? (Serious question.)