Two critically injured after water ride derails at amusement park, hurling visitors into bushes
ATHENS, GREECE: An accident at a famous amusement park has left two people fighting for their lives while two others suffered injuries. According to reports, the unfortunate incident occurred at the Allou! Fun Park in Athens, Greece, on Tuesday, September 6, when the water ride called La Isla derailed and the riders landed in the bushes on the ground.
"Two of the victims were seriously injured - with a woman, 21, undergoing critical care for a chest injury and a man, 24, having surgery for a ruptured spleen," The Sun reports. A 22-year-old suffered a concussion and was admitted to a hospital while the fourth one received treatment at the General State Hospital of Nicaea with minor injuries.
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The fourth victim claimed that officials at the park, described as "the largest amusement park in Athens, Greece," blamed the drivers for the horrific mishap. However, law enforcement authorities immediately launched an investigation into the case and arrested the amusement park's shift manager along with his legal representative.
It has been said that La Isla is one of the safest rides of the theme park, which carries four people in one carriage and goes up to around 50ft before diving into the water. However, some sources asserted that “the reason behind the accident was that the water level was not within the required limits.”
This comes after earlier this year, a 14-year-old boy lost his life after falling from a 430-foot ride at Orlando's ICON park. Tyre Sampson died on the night of March 24 after visiting Orlando from St Louis through a football program. After his death, his devastated father Yarnell Sampson told WOFL-TV, “He was panicking when he was going up. When the ride took off, that’s when he was feeling uncomfortable. He was like, ‘What’s going on?’ That’s when he started freaking out, and he was explaining to his friend next to him, ‘I don’t know man. If I don’t make it down, please tell my Mom and Daddy I love them.’ For him to say something like that, he must have felt something.”
Yarnell also added at the time, “This should never happen to anyone else's child ever again, and if I have anything to do with this, it will not happen ever again.”
Last month, it was reported that Tyre’s friends and family met on August 17 to remember him as it would have been his 15th birthday. Also, State Rep Geraldine Thompson declared that “she would be introducing the ‘Tyre Sampson Law’ to improve rider safety on amusement rides in the next legislative session,” The Daily Mail reported.
The victim’s father said: “I'm trying to give the proper respect to the dead. He deserved that because he didn't sign up to die. He signed up to ride a ride and have fun and it led up to something else, that was my only child. That was my everything. He would have been 15 years old. He was born on August 17, 2007. When he was born, he was a star to me. He will always be a star.”