Teen Girl Loses Feet on Six Flags Thrill Ride


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A teenage girl's legs were severed above the ankle while on a thrill ride at a popular amusement park on Thursday, park officials said.

The accident happened around 4:45 p.m. on the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, said Six Flags spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg.

It is unclear at what point during the ride the girl, 13, was injured, Goldberg said. The girl was taken to University Hospital. There was no immediate word on her condition.

The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops 154 feet, reaching a speed of 54 mph according to the park's Web site.

The ride has been shut down indefinitely while park officials investigate what caused the accident. The rest of the park remained open.

News Source: FOXNews.com

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Were they like that when she went on the ride?

I'm pretty sure people would have noticed a girl bleed from severed feet before they got on the ride.

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Cant imagine how horrible it must've been for her and all those present on the ride to just have her feet ripped off like that. I feel very sorry for her :(

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That's really sad. I hope she gets better (as much as she can, anyways).

What's also sad is I could see this getting blown into a 'roller coasters aren't safe' dispute by some activists when in reality, they're probably far safer than the car ride you took to get there.

-Spenser

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(CNN) -- A girl's feet were cut off Thursday when a free-fall thrill ride malfunctioned at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Amusement Park in Louisville, Kentucky, police said.

A cord wrapped around the 16-year-old's feet and severed them at her ankles while she was on the "Superman Tower of Power," a police dispatcher said. The girl was taken to a local hospital.

An unidentified witness told CNN affiliate WLKY she saw a cable on the ride snap.

"The people on the ride just came and hit the ground," she said. "When I got up there, the lady she was just sitting there, and she didn't have no legs. ... And she was just there, calm, probably in shock from everything."

"That could have been all of us -- riding that ride," witness Whitney Sandfer told CNN affiliate WDRB/WMYO.

The incident took place shortly before 5 p.m. ET, according to Six Flags spokeswoman Wendy Goldberg. The park remained open, but the ride in question was shut down and will remain so until the full investigation is complete, Goldberg said.

During the ride, passengers are lifted to 177 feet, suspended momentarily and then dropped, according to the park's Web site.

Passengers drop 154 feet at 54 mph, stopping "just 20 terrifying feet above the pavement," it adds.

"I seen the car go up. Then, like, the cable broke, I heard -- pwchh -- and I heard a lot of people screaming," Chris Stinnett, who was at a ride next to the Superman Tower of Power, told WDRB/WMYO.

"The cable went under the car -- and I seen it pull up and hit a lot of people -- and I seen them bring their legs up," Stinnett said.

The ride was introduced in 1995.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/06/21/six.f...dent/index.html

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Pictures??? I want to see her severed feet, poor girl. I really feel sorry for her, I hope she get's well fast, she is not permanently disabled.

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Pictures??? I want to see her severed feet, poor girl. I really feel sorry for her, I hope she get's well fast, she is not permanently disabled.

Trust me, you don't want to see her severed feet. And probably the last thing she needs right now are pictures of them.

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@kevcart3 - They have one like that in Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL), called Giant Drop. It's a pretty excellent ride - intense, as you wait about 10 seconds at the top before the freefall, but lots of fun. I can't imagine having feet at the top and then not at the bottom though...

-Spenser

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@kevcart3 - They have one like that in Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, IL), called Giant Drop. It's a pretty excellent ride - intense, as you wait about 10 seconds at the top before the freefall, but lots of fun. I can't imagine having feet at the top and then not at the bottom though...

-Spenser

Yeah, the ride always seemed pretty safe to me, as I've visited the park quite a few times over the years. It wouldn't be one of the rides there that I would expect that to happen.

I can't imagine how painful that must have been for the poor girl :(

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