Six Flags Death: Roller Coaster Maker From Germany Inspects Ride, Safety Bar Not Broken

Six Flags death on rollercoaster was investigated by German roller coaster manufacturer. Official says safety bar wasn’t broken on the ride involved in a woman's death at Six Flags in Texas. Still unsure what caused the woman to plunge to her death. Six Flags promotes the roller coaster as touted as the tallest steel-hybrid roller coaster in the world.

A Texas Giant roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas where a woman fell to her death on Saturday in Arlington, Texas is being investigated by the German manufacturer. The officials are making sure the woman was properly secured. Police, fire and emergency medical services responded to the park emergency at 6:45 p.m. on Friday. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

A project manager for Gerstlauer Amusement Rides in Munsterhausen, Germany, Tobias Lindnar, told The Dallas Morning News that the manufacturing company will arrive in Arlington to investigate what led to the Six Flags death. Lindnar told the paper "I'm sure there's no safety bar that is broken. At this time I don't want to speak about the technical. It's not so easy. It's some special equipment. “We will be on site and we will see what has happened."

Lindnar told the newspaper that Gerstlauer has never had any problems with its safety bars. The company has built about 50 roller coasters around the world over the past 30 years. Lindnar did not specifically address the operation of the hydraulic bar or if park employees should be able to tell when a person's body is too close to the front of the train car to stop it from being effective. Lindnar did confirm that the safety bar could not open once the ride began.

Witnesses told the newspaper that the woman was concerned that the safety bar wasn’t completely fastening when the road was starting.

In a statement Saturday, Sharon Parker, a Six Flags spokeswoman, confirmed that the woman died while riding the 14-story Texas Giant roller coaster. Parker didn’t offer any specifics. We are committed to determining the cause of this tragic accident and will utilize every resource throughout this process. It would be a disservice to the family to speculate regarding what transpired."

Arlington Police Sgt. Christopher Cook told The AP that they found no evidence of foul play. The The woman has been identified as Rosy Esparza. This was the first time she had visited Six Flags.

Jerry Hagins, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Insurance told the AP that Six Flags complied with state regulations that require amusement ride operators to have $1 million liability insurance on each ride and provide proof of an annual safety inspection by a certified engineer. Hagins said "It's the ride owner's responsibility to keep it closed, to fix it, then prove to us that it's safe to start back up again. If for some reason they can't figure it out, no safety inspector is going to sign off on it."

Officials say police are not investigating because no foul play is suspected in the death.

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world news
Six Flags
death
Roller Coaster
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