Man Dies on Atlantis Adventure

[TheGreatOne]

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2006/March/theworld_March123.xml&section=theworld&col=

 

SEOUL - A South Korean man was killed on Monday when he fell from a water splash ride at one of the country’s most-attended amusement parks, a park spokesman said.

 

The incident took place at the Lotte World amusement park in Seoul and officials were investigating the cause of the accident.

 

The 28-year-old man was riding on the park’s “Atlantis Adventure” attraction, which is a roller coaster-type ride that splashes riders as they travel over ponds.

 

The maximum height of the ride, which was introduced in 2003, is 21 metres (70 feet) and cars can travel as fast as 80 kph (50 mph).

 

Park operators were not sure how the man fell from the car or how far was his fall. The man was an employee at the park and was enjoying a day off by attending as a visitor.

 

I know this ride has lapbars...could they be to blame again?

 

-Bryan "These are always so sad" Wood

[viking86]

Considering that he was an employee, Im guessing that he thought he knew the ride well enough and did something stupid.

 

Still sad though....

[Imhotep]

Very sad.. I hope this mans family is holding up during this hard time..

 

I wonder if they have had any saftey concerns or complaints from park guests prior to this accident? I guess its because of the recent CG accident, but I can't help but wonder if he was doing something he wasn't supposed to..

 

^Ahh, on the same page.. I was thinking that he may have done something silly because he was an employee as well.

[kingdanny]

Another sad accedent. I don't know if it was a lap bar issue(again) or if the employee did something dumb. Since he was an employee, he could have tweeked something. Nevermind, that sentence didn't make sence. I wouldn,t be suprised if it was ANOTHER lap bar accedent. If that's the case, you probably won't see another Intamin with lap bars.

[viking86]

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1646.htm?picture=21

 

To me there seems to be more lateral support to the riders than on the 'normal' Intamin coastertrains so I find it hard to belive that he fell out if he rode like he should.

[arrowfanman]

^ Very true. Those lapbars are down, and past the "armrest" thingys. I wont exactly jump straight to "its his fault he's dead", but I'm aint blaiming Intamin either, for sure.

 

-Jahan

[Thrillrider15]

Sad incident.

[verticalzero]

it's sad to report these, I wonder if he had his Lapbar pulled down enough or seatbelt on.

[viking86]

Seems like he was drunk and no one checked his restraints. Definately not Intamin's fault then.

 

http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200603/kt2006030717372110510.htm

[robbalvey]

I know this ride has lapbars...could they be to blame again?

 

-Bryan "These are always so sad" Wood

No. In fact, I am changing the title of this thread from "Intamin Death" to "Death on Atlantis Adventure."

 

I think it's VERY premature and absurd to blame someone without knowing hardly any details.

 

Don't try to point fingers at any one company just because a number of thier products happen to have been involved in accidents, the majority of which are due to rider or ride operator error. That's just not fair unless you have some inside information that we are all not privy to.

 

--Robb

[TheGreatOne]

Easy there, big guy. I can see how many post could be interpreted like a slant against Intamin, but that was not my intention at all. Title-ing my thread "Another Intamin Death" was simply stating that another man died on an Intamin-built ride, I was not placing blame there.

 

The thing is that a lapbar ride is more prone to ejections. They allow free movement of the torso. It leaves a gray area for ride operators (especially inexperienced ones) for larger riders as to whether they can ride where as Over-The-Shoulders (even on Intamin rides) would eliminate. Whether from people being idiots on rides (the Raven and Triple Hurricane incidents), to operators allowing people too large to ride (S:RoS, Perilous Plunge incidents), lapbar rides seem to have more ejections than rides with OTSR's.

 

In fact, the news today is that the man was killed because operators started the ride before the man was secured and did not check restraints.

 

-Bryan "not trying to slander anybody" Wood

[coaster1]

Again, where does the blame fall on the manufacturer for something that isn't their problem?

 

The parks wanted lapbars, they got them.

 

All the deaths were due to morons or faulty staff/training, no where do I see INTAMIN employees operating the rides, then MAYBE they would be at fault. INTAMIN does what they are asked of and provide their recomendations for safety, which is usually then redone by the park with stricter policies.

[robbalvey]

Bryan,

 

Thanks for your response. Just please keep one thing in mind....people from Intamin DO READ THIS BOARD! I know that for a fact!

 

A lot of people from parks and manufacturers do lurk our boards all the time!

 

So with that, I really found it dis-respectful to ANY company to have a topic title like that. It's slanted towards an accusation and it doesn't sound like Intamin is to blame, so why have the topic title include their name?

 

It's no better than the sensationalism of the press.

 

I hope you can understand that.

 

--Robb "Big guy" Alvey

[ECZenith]

It's very sad to see this, and even sadder to know it could have been avoided if people were doing their jobs properly. Safety should be all park staff's top priority!

[Gnome]

I actually thought up an idea that they could do to help secure thier TBars, even in case the restraint does malfunction. They could have seat belts on the left and right side of the seat, and once they pull down the lap bar, then they pull the seatbelt up from the ground and hook it into the correct seat belt spot on the restraint (left seatbelt goes into the left socket of the restraint.. ect) and basically the seatbelt would lock and couldn't extend (like in a car) once the ride releases, or w/e. If that makes any sense. I think I might draw a diagram to better clarify what I'm trying to say.

[ECZenith]

They modified SFNE's SROS to be idiot proof by adding a seat belt from the floor up to the T-bar. It takes a lot more time to dispatch a train as there are more belts to check and your average SFNE guest usually decides not to click it in place which wastes even more time. I'm not sure if this is the same idea you are thinking of, but I could see it as not impacting dispatch times too horribly at a low capacity park. Unfortunately, I know nothing about Lotte World, the ride looks amazing though!

 

Sean "You must have an IQ of at least 100 to ride" Costa

[Chris Benvenuto]

I actually thought up an idea that they could do to help secure thier TBars, even in case the restraint does malfunction. They could have seat belts on the left and right side of the seat, and once they pull down the lap bar, then they pull the seatbelt up from the ground and hook it into the correct seat belt spot on the restraint (left seatbelt goes into the left socket of the restraint.. ect) and basically the seatbelt would lock and couldn't extend (like in a car) once the ride releases, or w/e. If that makes any sense. I think I might draw a diagram to better clarify what I'm trying to say.

 

Um, this was done on SFNE's Superman. Already thought of there, just so you know.

[Gnome]

^ oooh, i've never seen the SROS trains, all i know is that they have ankle clamps.

[Carnage]

I think there have been cases of injury's/deaths involving OSTRs that aren't lowered properly. So it's not specifically related to lap bars.

 

If they were stupid enough to dispatch a train with a drunk employee not restrained, then why wouldn't they have done it with OSTRs?

 

People will always find ways to hurt/kill themselves in stupid way. It's survival of the fittest.

 

Even the SROS restraints still require operator discretion. Only a system where the ride computer keeps a train from dispatching until restraints are in place would work. And even then,where there's a will there's a way.

[rollermonkey]

These seats are VERY different than any other Intamin ride. Although both times I have been to Lotte World, I wasn't able to ride this coaster, I did get a pretty good look at the cars. The Aqua Trax coaster was designed to simulate a ride-on jet ski and the seat is straddled. This has a T-bar restraint , but it is different than the ones found on Perilous Plunge and S:ROS. .

 

I have a top down shot of a train on RCDB here:

 

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1646.htm?picture=21

 

Your legs go outside the red part, the black bar comes down to the waist / lap area.

[HAYASHI]

I do find it interesting, after reading the article from the koreatimes, that police plan to charge an individual, the supervisor, as opposed to Lotte World in a legal case.

 

Though i understand the supervisor has a responsibility over his staff of ride operators, he wasnt the associate checking or inspecting the train/passengers before it cleared. In addition, if the police were to file for negligence to individuals, then it should be filed against the ride operator(s) who neglected to check the seat. if operations at lotte world train and certify ride operators similar to the way they do here in the states (certifying by initaling and signing documents after completion and comprehension), then it would be legitimate to say the operators were negligent and should be charged. But considering i do not have any knowledge of their training process nor documents of liability, that can be up for debate.

 

Yet, It is an upsetting story to read of a life loss for something that could've been easily prevented on a job your paid and trained to do.

[TheGreatOne]

These seats are VERY different than any other Intamin ride. Although both times I have been to Lotte World, I wasn't able to ride this coaster, I did get a pretty good look at the cars. The Aqua Trax coaster was designed to simulate a ride-on jet ski and the seat is straddled. This has a T-bar restraint , but it is different than the ones found on Perilous Plunge and S:ROS. .

 

I have a top down shot of a train on RCDB here:

 

http://www.rcdb.com/ig1646.htm?picture=21

 

Your legs go outside the red part, the black bar comes down to the waist / lap area.

 

The restraints sort of look like B&M Speed-Coaster Clamshells, is that what they're like?

[rollermonkey]

Maybe a little. I'd really have to go out on a limb and say they really aren't exactly like anything else out there. Mix a booster bike and a B&M clamshell, and you MIGHT get these! I just wish I had gotten a chance to actually ride it between my TWO visits to Lotte World!