Incidents at Six Flags parks

The following is a list of summary of notable incidents at any of the properties operated by Six Flags.

This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of every such event, but only those that have a significant impact on the parks or park operations, or are otherwise significantly newsworthy. In some cases, incidents occurred while the park was under different management or ownership. The term incidents refers to major accidents, injuries, or deaths that occur at a park.  While these incidents were required to be reported to regulatory authorities due to where they occurred, they usually fall into one of the following categories:

1. The result of a guest's known or unknown health issues.
2. Negligence on the part of the park, either by ride operator or maintenance safety instructions, or deliberate intent to violate park rules.
3. Act of God or a generic accident (e.g., lightning strike, slipping and falling), that is not a direct result of an action on anybody's part.

La Ronde

Le Vampire

• July 6, 2012: A 67-year-old employee of the park was killed at Le Vampire. The employee was reportedly found underneath the attraction in a restricted area, appearing to have suffered head trauma.  Park officials stated that the employee had been struck by the roller coaster. The employee was pronounced dead at the scene; another individual was taken to a hospital to be treated for shock. Officials with the park did not know why the employee entered the restricted area of the ride while it was operational, but they did state that the ride was operating normally and that procedures for entering restricted ride areas, including notification of ride staff, had not been followed.

Six Flags America

Octopus

• August 3, 2007: A 6-year-old girl fell from the Octopus while the ride was in motion and suffered minor injuries to her head, hip, and leg.  Park officials said that they believe she fell because she was standing up while the ride was moving.

Renegade Rapids

• June 2000: Eight people were trapped when their raft fell over during the ride. All riders escaped, but two were injured.

Two-Face: The Flip Side

• October 16, 2007: The train was stuck on the lift caused by a failed mechanism. Once the train returned to the station, the hydraulic line was severed, causing hydraulic fluid to spray on several riders. Twelve people needed medical attention, while two were taken to the hospital to be treated. The riders only suffered minor injuries.

The Joker's Jinx

• August 10, 2014: At about 3 pm, 24 people were trapped on the roller coaster when the train stalled along the course. The train was upright on a curve near one of the highest points on the ride. The local fire department used cherry pickers to bring down riders one at a time. By 7 pm local time, all riders had been removed from the ride, which will remain closed until the reason for the incident is determined. No riders were injured, and all were evaluated by emergency personnel.

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

Animal attacks

• January 5, 1996: Two trainers were attacked by cougars during an exercise session.  One trainer was in the cougar enclosure to take one of the animals for a walk.  The cougars, Zuni and Tonto, had been playing among themselves and began aggressively playing with him, causing severe cuts on his face and upper torso.  The backup trainer suffered minor cuts and bruises in his attempt to free the other.
• July 31, 1998: Puma, a two-year-old Bengal tiger, attacked and seriously injured a guest from San Jose, California, and slightly injured the trainer. The incident happened in a secluded area of the park set up to do private photo sessions with the big cats. The tiger was apparently startled when the guest fell off the photo platform and landed on top of her.  The trainer suffered a clawing while trying to free the guest who had received serious injuries to her head and upper torso.
• June 2, 2004: A 23-year-old African elephant named Misha gored her trainer while in her enclosure as the trainer walked beside her.  This was Misha's second aggressive act following a previous swipe at a trainer two years prior.

Boomerang

• August 25, 1999: 28 passengers were stranded on the Boomerang ride for several hours.  The shuttle that pulled the train up an incline failed to release the train.  Employees were eventually able to fix the problem and started the coaster.  It successfully went around both loops on its first pass but stalled upside down at the peak of one of the loops on its way back for hours.  Riders, suffering from cases of severe dehydration and sunburn, were rescued by firefighters in cherry pickers.

Scat-A-Bout

• September 4, 1999: A nine-year-old boy was injured when he slipped below the restraining bar on the Scat-a-bout, a twister ride.  The boy was thrown from the ride and landed in a nearby planter, receiving cuts on his legs.  The park later stated that the accident was the result of the boy intentionally sliding beneath the safety restraint.

Starfish

• May 2001: A 41-year-old woman from Antioch, California was thrown from the ride when a restraining bar failed as the result of a pneumatic valve being incorrectly installed. She landed on the pavement and suffered head and knee injuries.  Her later lawsuit named both the park and ride manufacturer Chance Rides as responsible parties.
• June 8, 2002: A 4-year-old girl was critically injured when she slipped beneath the restraining bar and fell from the Starfish ride while riding with her mother, receiving critical head injuries. Investigators later blamed park employees for incorrectly seating the girl and not having proper signage indicating the proper seating arrangement for a larger and smaller rider.

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Guest altercations

• July 11, 2007: Park employees confronted a 37-year-old man who was acting suspiciously with a video camera.  San Antonio police were called, and he was arrested for allegedly secretly filming young girls in the water park section.  He was charged with improper photography or visual recording, or filming someone without permission to arouse or gratify the sexual desire of a person.

Poltergeist

• June 12, 2007: a 14-year-old girl was paralyzed after she fell into a gap between the roller coaster's cars, landing on a concrete floor about 10 feet below the platform. Family members stated that she may have fainted due to the heat of the day.
• August 28, 2010: Two people were stuck on the Poltergeist for two hours.
• May 29, 2021: At approximately 11:54 AM CST, one of Poltergeist's trains stopped in the middle of a ride cycle with 20 riders on board. Fiesta Texas cooperated with the San Antonio Fire Department to safely export all 20 guests from the ride by 3:15 PM. Fiesta Texas said the ride would remain closed while the park completed a full inspection.

Six Flags Great Adventure

Batman & Robin: The Chiller

• August 18, 2004: Lightning hit a power substation near the park, causing a power cut to the park. Twenty passengers on The Chiller were left stranded on the ride, approximately 75 feet above the ground, for 40 minutes.  The train's angle was such that eight of those passengers were upside-down.  No injuries were reported. Only the Robin side was operating during this incident.

Guest altercations

• April 19, 1987: A gunman fired several shots into a crowd on the plaza inside the main gate, wounding one man and sending panicked guests running for safety. It was the third violent incident of the day, following two earlier unrelated stabbings.  The park was evacuated a few minutes after the shooting, about an hour earlier than its scheduled 8:00 p.m. closing time.  Park officials modified security after the incident, including adding metal detectors at the park's entrance.

Haunted Castle

• May 11, 1984: Eight teenage visitors were trapped and killed when the Haunted Castle attraction was destroyed by fire.  Six Flags Great Adventure and its parent company Six Flags were subsequently indicted for manslaughter, accused of recklessly causing the deaths by taking inadequate precautions against fire.  In the subsequent trial, the prosecution argued that repeated warnings by safety consultants to install sprinklers or smoke alarms had been ignored.  The defendants denied any culpability and contended that the fire was arson and that no precautions would have saved lives.  The trial jury found the defendants not guilty.

Lightnin' Loops

• June 17, 1987: A 19-year-old woman was killed after falling from the Lightnin' Loops shuttle loop roller coaster. The guest had reportedly rushed to board a train after the harnesses had been locked and the ride was unable to be stopped. An investigation by the State Labor Department concluded that the ride itself was operating properly, but that the ride operator started the ride without checking that all of the passengers were securely fastened by the safety harnesses. The Department's Office of Safety Compliance further concluded that the accident would not have occurred if proper procedures had been followed. The park was found to be in violation of the Carnival/Amusement Ride Safety Act and was subsequently charged with the maximum state fines of $1,000.

Rolling Thunder

• August 16, 1981: A 20-year-old park employee from Middletown Township, New Jersey fell to his death from the Rolling Thunder roller coaster during a routine test run.  An investigation by the New Jersey Labor Department concluded that the man may not have secured himself with the safety bar. A park representative later confirmed this conclusion, saying that the employee "may have assumed an unauthorized riding position that did not make use of safety restraints." The ride was inspected, and the Labor Department concluded that the ride was "operationally and mechanically sound."

Six Flags Great America

From 2004 to September 2007, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspected Six Flags parks five different times and found a total of four violations. On September 10, 2007, OSHA cited Great America with 38 safety violations, alleging "multiple serious and repeat violations at the amusement park, ranging from defective emergency brakes on an industrial truck to a lack of labeling procedures for preventing inadvertent machine start-ups." OSHA fined the park US$117,700.

Cajun Cliffhanger

• July 19, 2000: A 12-year-old girl from McHenry, Illinois suffered two crushed toes after the floor of the ride was improperly raised prior to the ride coming to a complete stop.  A second guest also had her foot trapped in this accident. The ride was permanently shut down as part of an out-of-court settlement. In the ten years prior to this accident, there were thirteen other reported incidents involving the Cajun Cliffhanger ride, at least six of which involved injuries.

Camp Cartoon Network

• August 16, 2006: A 10-year-old girl from Arlington Heights, Illinois collapsed and died after riding rides in the Camp Cartoon Network area. An autopsy showed that she died of a congenital heart condition. Her family said that she had a history of heart trouble.

Demon

• April 18, 1998: 23 riders on the Demon roller coaster were stranded upside-down in the middle of the ride's second vertical loop.  Firefighters used a cherry picker to bring riders to safety, although some were on the ride for as long as three hours.  The incident was the result of a mechanical failure.

The Edge

• May 22, 1984, three unnamed teenage boys were seriously injured when the ride vehicle fell back down the lift shaft.

Emergency services outside the amusement park.

Other guest altercations

• August 14, 2022, three guests shot in a drive-by shooting incident in the parking lot.
• May 29, 2023, juvenile guests, ranging from ages 14-18, were pepper-sprayed by police near the front gates following a fight. Multiple police and juveniles were transported to the hospital.

Hurricane Harbor

• June 29, 2005: A 68-year-old guest from Chicago, Illinois had a heart attack, and died in the wave pool.

Ragin' Cajun

• May 29, 2004: A 52-year-old ride mechanic from Zion, Illinois was killed by a roller-coaster car as he attempted to cross the tracks. Suffering from a traumatic head injury, he died at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.

Raging Bull

• May 3, 2003: An 11-year-old girl from Gary, Indiana collapsed after riding the Raging Bull coaster while on a trip with her aunt, sisters and cousins.  She died after being taken to the hospital.  While initial reports said that she died from choking on taffy she had been eating while on the ride, the coroner's report later stated that she died due to an "enlarged" heart condition, and had been seeing a cardiologist for treatment.

Viper

• June 25, 1997: A 14-year-old boy from Milwaukee injured his arm while dangling it outside the car. His limb got caught between the car and the platform as the ride reentered the station and slowed to a stop.

Whizzer

During a 1980 investigation of an accident at the Great America park in California of their Willard's Whizzer coaster, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission discovered two incidents at the Illinois park that had not been previously reported:  on July 24, 1976, 13 guests were injured; and on August 18, 1976, 18 guests were injured. The CPSC report does not list injury or accident details for either incident.

Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

Starchaser

• July 26, 1994: Five unidentified riders were injured when two cars collided in an incident that inspectors said was due to operator error. After the accident, the park filed suit against Louisville, Kentucky television station WHAS-TV for reporting on the accident in a misleading and malicious manner.  The station had inaccurately reported that the ride malfunctioned, was dangerous, and that the park had removed a "key component" of the ride. The station lost the lawsuit and was ordered to pay US$3 million to the park.

Superman Tower of Power

• June 21, 2007: A 13-year-old girl from Louisville, Kentucky had both feet cut off above the ankle by a snapped cable, caused by an unidentified ride malfunction. In reaction to this accident, at least nine similar rides around the world were closed for inspection at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, Sweden, Kennywood in Pittsburgh, and at parks run by Six Flags, Cedar Fair, and PARC Management. On July 3, 2007, the victim's family released a statement stating that her  right foot had been successfully reattached. On July 13, 2007, the victim's family filed a lawsuit for unspecified damages against the park claiming that the park did not properly maintain the ride. On November 29, 2007, a judge in the Jefferson Circuit Court said that Six Flags could dismantle the ride beginning February 1, 2008.  As of December 1, 2007, the ride's cable was still in storage awaiting lab tests. On May 30, 2008, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture released their report on the accident, concluding that the accident was due to a faulty cable, as well as poor operator training in that if the ride operators had acted to shut down the ride in a timely manner, guests would only have suffered minor cuts. The report also stated that the park was fined $1,000 for not properly maintaining the ride. On November 21, 2008, a settlement to "provide lifetime care" was reached between Kentucky Kingdom and the victim's family.

Six Flags Magic Mountain

In 2006, there were 109 complaints by Magic Mountain guests due to various incidents, according to an annual report from the Amusement Safety Organization. Reports ranged from nose bleeds and heat exhaustion, to neck and back injuries from various rides. Included in those 109 complaints were 18 reports of people blacking out on the Goliath roller coaster. Other complaints were safety-related, such as notices of ride operators talking on cell phones while operating rides.  The report stated that the state of California received notice of  80 injuries at Magic Mountain between January 2001 - December 2006.

Colossus

• 1978: A 20-year-old woman died after falling out of the ride. The lap bar did not lock in place due to the woman's size. One of the old cars has been sent to the Sky Tower. This incident prompted Colossus to be closed for a year while the trains were switched out and other adjustments made.
• September 8, 2014: While being refurbished into Twisted Colossus, a fire broke out at the main drop, causing part of it to collapse.

Eagles Flight

• February 5, 1978: A gondola car on Eagles Flight traveling the El Dorado course fell to the ground. A pair of newlyweds were violently rocking the car back and forth causing it to detach from the cable. The husband was killed, and his wife suffered serious injuries.

Goliath

• June 2, 2001: A 28-year-old woman died of a brain aneurysm while riding Goliath.  Her family sued the park, claiming that managers were aware of other complaints from Goliath riders and continued to still operate the coaster anyway.

Hurricane Harbor

• September 30, 2012: A 19-year-old man fell from the Venom Drop water slide at Black Snake Summit. According to a spokesperson for the water park, the man cut in line at the slide, fought through the lifeguards and jumped onto the slide head first. The man tumbled onto the slide and slipped over the edge, falling 60 feet onto the concrete below the slide tower. The unconscious man was found still breathing after first hitting a barbed wire fence had broken his fall. The local sheriff's office reported that the man was transported to an area hospital. However, he was found to have no broken bones or internal injuries. A former lifeguard stated that the man was drunk and it took about 30 minutes to locate him after he had fallen.

Ninja

• August 30, 2008: A 20-year-old man was hospitalized after being hit by the train and knocked unconscious when he allegedly climbed multiple security fences to retrieve a hat. Airlifted to the UCLA Medical Center, he was pronounced dead at 2 a.m. on the following day, due to blunt force trauma.

Riders stranded on Ninja when it derailed on July 7, 2014

• July 7, 2014: 22 guests were stranded for over two hours after a pine tree branch fell onto the coaster track, causing the first car of the train to derail, stranding the riders aboard. Four of the 22 guests were injured in the accident and two were treated in the hospital, all for minor injuries.

Revolution

• May 30, 1996: A part-time employee was killed while crossing the tracks of the Revolution roller coaster. She was struck by a train full of park visitors as it returned to the station; both passengers and those waiting in line for the ride saw the victim fly into an area beneath the coaster, and she was pronounced dead at the scene from major injuries.

Scream!

• April 9, 2004: A 21-year-old employee died after being struck by the roller coaster while underneath the track during a test run prior to the park's opening that day.  The roller coaster was allowed to be re-opened the next day after an OSHA inspection found no mechanical issues.

Sky Tower

• August 12, 2020: Riley James Birchfield and Dylan Ivan Godoy were arrested on August 28 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department for felony vandalism after posting a TikTok video of themselves allegedly breaking into Six Flags Magic Mountain during the COVID-19 pandemic and vandalizing the Sky Tower. On September 17, 2020, they were charged with trespassing and vandalism at the San Fernando Courthouse of the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Twisted Colossus

• July 6, 2022: An 8-year old daughter of the Evans family was riding Twisted Colossus when she was struck above the eyes by a cell phone dropped by another rider. When the coaster returned to the station, the mother claimed that the staff ignored her cries for help. The other rider came to look for his cell phone and said it wasn't "a big deal". After seeing the blood on the girl's face, the man fled the scene. The daughter was taken to the First Aid station and then to the emergency room, where she received 10 stitches. When the Evans family sought to press charges, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department informed them that there was no law on the books against such a situation. Six Flags released a statement that the park's policy "strictly prohibits all loose articles on rides," and that "guests must follow all written and verbal instructions for safe riding."

Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage

• August 2022: A 9-year-old daughter of the Kriesberg family was riding Wonder Woman: Flight of Courage in early August when she was struck on the forehead by a dropped cell phone. The Kriesbergs later discovered from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department that it was not a crime to injure another rider while trying to take selfies. As this was the second such incident in two months, the Kriesbergs pressed Six Flags to enforce stronger action against such offenders.

1993 TLC / Paperboy Riot

• April 17, 1993: R&B group TLC and rapper Paperboy were scheduled to perform at the Golden Bear Theatre. The park had reached its then-capacity of 20,000 visitors by 1pm as 2,000 additional ticket holders arrived discover that the promoters had oversold the event. Angry about being turned away, a riot ensued that caused around $10,000 in damage to the park and surrounding businesses. Governor Pete Wilson mobilized the California National Guard to quell the riot and protect the performers. 40 people were treated for injuries and two were taken to hospitals. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department incurred over $280,000 in costs related to the incident. Though the federal civil rights trial over the beating of Rodney King had just announced its verdict, opinions were divided over its factor in the riot. Gang-related activity and park policies under Time Warner ownership were blamed. In the aftermath of the event, Six Flags decided to retarget marketing of the park from teens to families and the popular After Hours Dance Club was closed.

Six Flags México

• June 8, 2014: Around 10 a.m. (Mexico City time: UTC-6:00), a fire broke out in a warehouse of stuffed animals. Injured persons were evacuated from the affected 500-square-meter area. A short circuit was established to be the cause of the fire. The park was closed at the time of the fire.

Six Flags New England

Houdini's Great Escape

• October 9, 2010: Houdini's Great Escape (which was being used as a haunted house called Midnight Mansion), which was available during Fright Fest, suspiciously caught on fire. Firefighters were called to extinguish the flames, but the ride was closed for the rest of the night and the following day. Investigations show that a flammable cobweb hanging on the top of the building was the cause of the fire after coming in close contact with a light fixture. Nearly 20 feet of cobweb burned up, and the building only suffered minor damages to the roof and exterior. No one was injured but damages were estimated at $5,000.

Superman: Ride of Steel

• May 1, 2004: A 53-year-old, 230 lb (104.5 kg) man from Bloomfield, Connecticut fell out of his coaster seat during the last turn and was killed.  Reports show that the ride attendant had not checked that the guest's ride restraint was secure  as his girth was too large for the T-bar-shaped ride restraint to close properly.  The victim's family said that due to his various medical conditions, such as cerebral palsy, he shouldn't have been allowed to ride.  The park stated that the federal Americans with Disabilities Act forbids them from denying a ride to a person with a disability as long as the person can get on the ride by themselves.

Six Flags New Orleans

Main article: Six Flags New Orleans

The Joker's Jukebox

• July 10, 2003: A 52-year-old grandmother was strapping her 4-year-old grandson in when the ride started up. She died from blunt-force internal injuries after being struck by a ride vehicle. As of December 22, 2003, no lawsuit had been filed. The park added mirrors to the ride for ride operators to view around the blind spot where the accident occurred, and have added a safety announcement notifying guests that the ride is about to start.

Six Flags Over Georgia

Batman: The Ride

• May 26, 2002: A 58-year-old Six Flags foreman was struck in the head and killed by the dangling legs of a passenger after he wandered into the ride's path after entering a locked, no-access area during the ride's operation. The passenger, a 14-year-old girl, was hospitalized with leg injuries and released.
• June 28, 2008: A 17-year-old male from Columbia, South Carolina was decapitated by the passing train after he climbed over two six-foot fences and entered a restricted area. Initial reports said that the victim was allegedly trying to touch the train as it went by; later reports said that the victim was trying to retrieve his lost hat. Additional eyewitnesses stated that the victim and a companion, who also entered the restricted area but was uninjured, were trying to take a shortcut back into the park after leaving the park for lunch. No one on the ride was injured.

Goliath

• July 27, 2006: A 45-year-old male from Birmingham, Alabama died of a heart attack after riding Goliath.  He was alert during the ride, but was unconscious when the train arrived at the loading platform.  Autopsy showed that the man had a congenital heart condition, and it was expected that the medical examiner would announce that he died of natural causes.  Goliath was closed for two hours for an inspection, but was found to be operating normally.

Great Air Racer

• May 27, 1984: 34 passengers were injured after a computer malfunction caused the ride's cables to drop the planes out of position.

Mind Bender/The Riddler Mindbender

• June 3, 1984: A mechanical problem caused a train to stop abruptly, causing four people to be hospitalized.  The ride was repaired and put back into service with no more problems.

Tales of the Okefenokee

During the ride's last season, the interior mechanism in one of the Carrot Sisters figures became stuck, heating up its coil and causing a fire to break out. Since the Carrot Sisters were modeled out of polyurethane foam, the fire spread quickly, destroying the Carrots and the background behind them, and even spreading over to the nearby scene with Mr. Fox and Mr. Bear holding Mr. Rabbit in a bag, though it was extinguished before there could be any further damage. As a quick fix, the watermelons from the finale were brought to where the carrots had formerly been.

Wheelie

• May 2009: Four children became ill when the attraction failed to stop at the end of its cycle. After returning to a horizontal position, a limit switch failed and the ride continued to spin for five to ten minutes. The park's first-aid staff treated the children, while one was transported to an area hospital by his parents; the child was not admitted, however. An investigation determined that the ride operator did not engage an emergency stop switch due to a miscommunication between her and her supervisor; the park's ride operators are trained in how to stop their rides in the event of a malfunction. Since then, additional safety features have been added to ensure that the attraction automatically stops within 15 seconds if the limit switch were to fail.

Z-Force

• July 18, 1989: An 11-year-old boy from Talladega, Alabama became unconscious while riding Z-Force. Park staff performed CPR, but the victim was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital. An autopsy failed to pinpoint the cause of death.

Other guest ultercations

• March 2, 2024: During the park's opening day for the 2024 season, a series of fights broke out that would later escalate into a shooting off park property. A 15 year old was in critical condition after being shot by a police officer

Six Flags Over Texas

New Texas Giant

• July 19, 2013: A 52-year-old woman from Dallas, Texas fell to her death while riding the New Texas Giant roller coaster. According to one eyewitness account, the victim was concerned about being properly secured after boarding the ride. A ride attendant assured her that as long as she heard a click, it was secure. Other eyewitnesses believed the seat restraint locked into place normally and reported seeing it in the lowered position when the roller coaster returned. Some riders informed investigators that the woman was thrown from the roller coaster as it rounded a turn, and one rider tweeted that he saw the restraint come undone. The ride closed for several months during the investigation. The victim was found on top of one of the tunnels metal roof of the coaster near the Music Mill Amphitheater. Due to the similarity of New Texas Giant and Iron Rattler, Six Flags Fiesta Texas ceased running the new Iron Rattler pending investigation findings from Six Flags Over Texas. In under a month, Iron Rattler reopened on August 14 with seat belts as another added restraint to the two trains. Representatives from Gerstlauer, the German company that designed and built the ride's trains, are planning on participating in the investigation. While Gerstlauer would not discuss specifics of the incident, the company did state that their restraint system could not open while the ride was in motion. Then on September 10, 2013, Six Flags Over Texas released a statement stating that the park has finished its investigation on the recent incident and will reopen the New Texas Giant on September 14, 2013. With the reopening of the coaster the park has re-designed the restraint-bar pads and added seat-belts to the three trains and added a test seat at the entrance so riders can test if they are able to ride.

Roaring Rapids

• March 21, 1999: A 28-year-old woman died, and 10 other guests were injured, when the raft they were on overturned in 2–3 feet of water due to sudden deflation of the air chambers that support the raft.  The raft then got caught on an underwater pipe, which provided leverage for the rushing water in the ride to flip the boat over.  In a subsequent settlement, Six Flags agreed to pay US$4 million to the victim's family, and the company would join the family in a lawsuit against Canyon Manufacturing Co., the company responsible for parts that were related to the accident.

Texas Tornado

• March 12, 2006: Ten people suffered minor injuries when the Texas Tornado, a Chance Rides Manufacturing "Yo-Yo" attraction, was brought to an abrupt stop and several swing seats collided with each other.  Five people were sent to the hospital after complaints of back pain, the others were treated at the on-site first aid station. In October 2008, Chance recalled 85 Yo-Yo rides to repair defects that were found in this accident and one other.

Six Flags St. Louis

River King Mine Train / Rail Blazer

• July 1984: A 46-year-old woman was riding the Rail Blazer roller coaster when she was flung from the ride and fell to her death.  Park officials claimed that the woman fainted and fell out of the car, but her husband, who had been beside her, said that she had not fainted but had simply been tossed from the ride when it whipped around a curve.  At the time, the ride was only the third stand-up roller coaster in the world, but following this incident it was converted back to a sit-down coaster.

Skyway

• July 26, 1978: Three people died when their gondola fell from the cable.

Six Flags White Water

• July 11, 2010: A fire broke out in a maintenance building during operating hours, forcing the evacuation and closure of the park. The fire was contained to a single building, located adjacent to the park's wave pool and used principally for storage. Spokespeople for the water park and for the Cobb County fire department noted that everyone was evacuated safely and that there were no reported injuries. The park re-opened two days later on July 13 after crews had sealed off the damaged area caused by the fire.

Six Flags Great Escape

Sky Ride

• June 25, 2017: A 14-year-old girl fell from the Sky Ride at Six Flags Great Escape in the Lake George area Saturday evening. A witness, Loren Lent, said it was a slow-moving chair ride that goes through the park and that a young teenage girl was hanging from a chair by just her arms and head. Police say the girl was 14-years-old. Loren Lent said his wife, daughter and two of her friends were on the ride at the time. It was around 7:45 p.m. and he heard screaming. He and his other kids looked up and saw the teen hanging from the chair. The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office says the operator brought the ride to a stop after receiving a radio transmission from park staff on the ground that a rider was in distress. Lent said the girl’s friend screamed that the bar on the chair was choking her. Some bystanders decided to do something and they got together and told the girl they could catch her and to wiggle loose. Police say the girl fell from the car, hitting a tree branch on her way down, and landing in the crowd of park guests and employees gathered underneath. They were able to catch her, but Lent says watching it all unfold was difficult. “You don’t know what to do I mean you know you understand that you know somebody falling from 35 feet in the air could cause damage to you or whoever you’re catching her with but it’s better off to suffer a minor injury to save someone from a serious injury and that’s what those guys ultimately did,” Lent said. The girl was treated by park emergency medical personnel and then transported to the Glens Falls Hospital. She was then later transported to Albany Medical Center where police say she remains in stable condition. Luckily, officials say she did not suffer and serious injuries. Additionally, police say a 47-year-old Schenectady man, one of the park guests who gathered beneath the ride to catch the girl, was sent to the hospital and treated for a back injury. Sheriff’s investigators and park personnel inspected the ride and the car the victim was riding in and found that all safety equipment was in proper working order and operational at the time of the incident. it reopened at June 30 with new safety precautions.

Six Flags Great Escape Lodge & Indoor Waterpark

White Water Bay

• April 20, 2024: Warren County sheriff's deputies said a 5-year-old Hudson girl was found unresponsive in water; she was flown to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where she was in stable condition as of Saturday night. The water park inside the hotel, which is called White Water Bay, has nine water attractions that include a lazy river, slides and shallow pools. The park off Route 9 is required to have lifeguards stationed at various points inside the facility. It wasn't immediately clear if the incident was impacting water park operations Sunday. Tickets could still be purchased on the Six Flags website and no one could be reached at the facility by phone Sunday morning. A Warren County spokesman said the state Health Department handles oversight of public swimming locations in that county. Monica Pomeroy, public information officer at the state Department of Health, said in a statement Sunday afternoon "as this incident is the subject of a department investigation, we cannot comment further." Taylor Myers, communications manager at Six Flags Great Escape, issued a statement Sunday morning:  "Ensuring the safety and well-being of our guests is paramount to us which is why we have certified lifeguards and emergency personnel on property. Early yesterday evening, our on-site lifeguard and EMT team responded to a young swimmer in distress, providing immediate care. Emergency medical services were called; the guest was breathing when transported to a hospital for further attention." The Warren County Sheriff’s Office said it was assisted Saturday by West Glens Falls EMS, Queensbury Central Fire and the State Police.

See also

• 2021 fights at Six Flags parks

External links

• Spreadsheets: Amusement Park Injuries at Los Angeles Times
• 11 horrific Six Flags accidents everyone wants to forget by Eric Platt and Matthew Boesler at Business Insider (2012-07-23)
• Incidents at Six Flags parks at Wikipedia