Roller-coaster fall woman dies
Gendarmes check whether 100kg woman should have been allowed on roller-coaster after safety bar fails to prevent fall
A MOTHER has been killed after being thrown from a roller-coaster at an amusement park near Beauvais.
The 35-year-old woman, from Aisne, had been with her partner at the Saint-Paul park with their two children when the adults went on the Coaster Formule 1 roller-coaster as the youngsters tried another ride with friends.
However, the woman’s partner said she had been uncomfortable once the car started and had raised herself in her seat to get comfortable but lost her balance on a bend and been thrown out. She fell about three metres to the ground.
The children, aged seven and eight, did not see the accident.
An investigation has been started by the gendarmerie who are checking whether the woman should have been allowed on the ride as she was said to weigh about 100kg – and there were restrictions on the size of people who could use the roller-coaster.
The park’s owners said both the ride operator and the woman’s partner heard the safety bar clicking into place but it was feared that the woman’s size meant she was not secured.
There were about 4,500 people in the park at the time.
Park boss Gilles Campion was given a four-month suspended jail sentence in 2005 after 11 people were hurt when a car on Coaster Formule 1 crashed into others that were stopped. The ride had only been open for a few weeks.
