▶ Watch Video: Man falls to his death from Six Flags roller coaster in Georgia, witnesses say
Six Flags has temporarily closed nine rides across six of its parks after a man died when he fell from a roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia Monday, the company said.
The man fell out of his seat on Goliath, a hypercoaster that reaches 70 miles per hour and 200 feet high, witnesses said. Several other people were injured in the incident, police said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily closed similar attractions across our parks,” a Six Flags spokesperson said Monday. “The safety of our guests and team members remains one of our highest priorities.”
Six Flags did not specify which attractions were being paused, but CBS News Philadelphia reported the Nitro roller coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey, was among the rides closed.
Six Flags Over Georgia was closed Tuesday for a scheduled non-operating day, the company said.
Police have identified the man who died on Monday as 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta.
A witness described seeing the man “come straight up out of his seat.”
“Everything felt like it was happening in slow motion,” said Nick Mendenhall, who had ridden Goliath just minutes beforehand with his teenage son. “It was just surreal seeing it happen.”
Six Flags said it is “deeply saddened” by the incident and it is cooperating fully with authorities.
The incident comes two weeks after Six Flags permanently shut down its X2 roller coaster at Magic Mountain in Southern California amid multiple lawsuits alleging the ride caused serious brain injuries. Six Flags declined to comment on pending litigation.
An investigation is ongoing in Georgia to determine what happened Monday.
Brian Avery, a legal and risk professor at the University of Florida, said investigators will look at video footage, maintenance logs and statements from witnesses and ride attendants.
“All of these are clues to kind of build to the root cause and trying to come to an actual understanding as to why this would have occurred,” he said.
Avery said the odds of being in an incident involving a roller coaster are very low, but he added he hopes to see some federal oversight of safety standards for amusement rides.
“We need uniformity in our standards and we need an understanding of how each park is operating so that they’re operating according to the same book, if you would,” he said.
Somitra Butalia contributed to this report.
