Emergency medical personnel attend to an injured park guest at the Superman Ride of Steal roller coaster ride at Six Flags New England in Agawam. (AP Photo)

22 sent to hospital following Six Flags roller coaster collision

By Adam Gorlick, Associated Press, 08/06/01

AGAWAM, Mass. (AP) - Two cars on the Superman Ride of Steel roller coaster at the Six Flags New England amusement park collided Monday afternoon, sending 22 people to area hospitals with minor injuries.

RELATED COVERAGE Superman Ride of Steel Height:208 feet Length:5,400 feet Max. Speed:80 mph Height Requirements:Must be at least 54" Maximum Height:78" *Rated the #1 coaster on the planet by ParkWorld Magazine NECN RealVideo From the Globe Archives: Five hurt at Canobie Lake Park

"It was like the car that slammed into us never even slowed down," said Mattie Nichols of Hampden, who was one of the 10 people treated at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. "My neck hurts, but it could have been worse."

Only one person was admitted at Baystate, said Dr. John Santoro.

"She has a fractured nose, and we're keeping her for observation," Santoro said of the unidentified patient. "Most of the injuries were cuts, abrasions, bruises and strains."

A spokesman at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield said the hospital treated and released seven victims, ages 13-19.

An official at Holyoke Hospital said they received three victims. They were expected to be released Monday night, he said.

Accident victims and witnesses said the collision happened when one train rear ended another one as it was leaving the platform to begin the ride.

"It sounded like a big balloon popping," said Ariel Rosenthal, 17, visiting from Israel. He was waiting in line to get on the ride with a few family members. "There was some smoke and I saw blood on someone's face."

Justin Lin, 20, of Brookline, was waiting in line while a friend of his was in the car that was struck from behind. He said the second car was going about 30 m.p.h. to 40 m.p.h. and was not braking when it struck the car in front of it.

"It just came flying in," he said. "There was no braking at all."

Lin said the response of park officials to the accident was "chaotic and slow."

Dean O'Keefe, director of marketing for the amusement park, said emergency personnel responded to the scene within five minutes.

The park remained open through Monday evening. But the ride, one of the park's seven roller coasters, was closed. The Superman ride had opened in May 2000. The 5,400-foot roller coaster has a maximum height of 208 feet and reaches speeds of up to 80 miles per hour, according to the Six Flags Web site.

O'Keefe said ride engineers from Six Flags as well as the company who made the roller coaster are on the scene investigating the accident.

The accident is the second on a roller coaster in a New England amusement park in the past two weeks.

Five people were injured on July 27 when two cars collided on the Yankee Cannonball roller coaster at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, N.H. That accident was blamed on human error.

A park maintenance worker was killed June 13 when he was hit by the Boulder Dash roller coaster at the Lake Compounce amusement park in Bristol, Conn.

The next day, the Zoomerang roller coaster failed to stop at the correct location, and 26 people were stuck for over 90 minutes before firefighters were able to bring them down.

In 1999, when Six Flags New England was owned by its current company but operating under the name Riverside Amusement Park, eight people were injured when a raft on a ride capsized, trapping them under the water.

Those people filed a lawsuit last month claiming the park and its workers were negligent.