Government records reveal mechanical failures, faulty restraint bars and broken bones at Six Flags theme parks

In the years leading up to this week’s fatal accident at its Georgia theme park, Six Flags has been accused of failing to maintain its parks amid hundreds of reports of injuries and dangerous malfunctions on its aging thrill rides, according to a CNN analysis of public records and court filings.

Six Flags temporarily closed 10 rides in seven states this week after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem fell to his death and several others were injured while riding the Goliath rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia just outside Atlanta.

In the last five years, safety records covering more than a dozen parks across three different states reveal maintenance issues, such as a train derailment, faulty restraint bars and guest injuries including dislocated joints and concussions.

Six Flags is the country’s largest theme park operator – with 30 water and amusement parks in 13 states. In a statement to CNN, the company said it was “committed to rigorous ride inspection, maintenance and safety procedures that meet or exceed industry standards.”

What we know about the fatal roller coaster incident at Six Flags Over Georgia

But Six Flags has struggled financially amid weak attendance and crushing debt following a 2024 merger with competitor Cedar Fair, according to its financial statements from recent years.

Two investor lawsuits filed last year allege that prior to the merger, Six Flags officials had put off basic park maintenance, infrastructure repairs and ride updates as it slashed employee headcount. In investor calls last year cited in the lawsuits, a Six Flags executive described a need to invest in “deferred items” at the amusement parks, while another stated the “list is always long” for needed improvements in response to a question from a financial analyst. Six Flags has not responded to the lawsuits’ claims in court.

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The company “failed to make adequate capital investments to conduct routine facility maintenance or improve rides and attractions, and made drastic personnel cuts,” according to one investor lawsuit. The other alleges Six Flags “had for years deferred or foregone” necessary repairs.

The safety of Six Flags rides had already come under fire this summer, after a CNN investigation exposed how one of its most famous roller coasters, X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, had been linked to more than a dozen serious brain injuries, hospitalizations and even deaths. Officials had kept the ride open for nearly two decades despite a long history of problems. But last month, the company closed it permanently after CNN reported that two women had been rushed into emergency brain surgery six days apart in July and more than 100 injured riders came forward with brain injury claims.

Six Flags to close world-famous roller coaster after CNN investigation exposed years of injuries and deaths

This week’s fatal accident in Georgia comes less than two weeks after the high-profile closure of X2, which officials attributed to a loss of guest confidence in the ride. The president of Six Flags over Georgia said in a statement that the park has “a comprehensive safety program built on rigorous inspections” for each ride and is cooperating with state investigators while also conducting its own review of the incident.

Six Flags did not comment on the injuries reported to various state regulators but said all reported guest injuries are “taken seriously” and reviewed. Officials also said that the incidents reviewed by CNN “span multiple parks, attractions, years, jurisdictions and circumstances, and may reflect differing state reporting requirements and a wide range of incidents and outcomes. As a result, broad conclusions drawn from a compilation of reports may not provide the full context surrounding any individual event or our overall approach to safety.”

Theme park-related accidents remain rare, with an industry report showing roughly 1,500 injuries in 2024. Most of these were classified as related to guest behavior or medical conditions, and roughly 25 percent were caused by technical or operational issues, such as mechanical problems with a ride or operator error.

“There is always the possibility of mechanical failure in spite of following all the standards and other specific procedures developed by manufacturers and operators,” Edward Pribonic, an amusement ride engineer and ride safety expert who has served as an expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs suing Six Flags, said in an email. “However, recurring safety incidents and mechanical failures usually point to a lack of attention to standards and manufacturer’s requirements for whatever reasons.” Typically, these reasons are budget contraints or “incompetence,” he said.

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In California, state law requires operators to report accidents “where maintenance, operation, or use of the permanent amusement ride results in a death or serious injury to any person unless the injury does not require medical service other than ordinary first aid.”

Since 2021, regulators in the state have fielded nearly 300 accident reports from Six Flags parks. The details about each incident were limited and some could involve other factors such as heat or underlying medical conditions. Issues documented included chemical burns and hydraulic fluid that leaked from a ride into someone’s eye, dislocated joints, concussions and broken bones.

Across the country at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, state records showed similar injuries and malfunctions. For instance, park officials reported a 2024 train derailment due to an equipment failure that caused minor injuries and repeated instances of lap bars opening mid-ride – sometimes due to broken bolts. Riders had to evacuate its log ride on seven separate occasions because of issues such as boats colliding or becoming jammed and smoke coming from a malfunctioning part of the ride. And a child was transported for medical treatment after hitting his head multiple times on a roller coaster’s restraint bar.

Six Flags financial trouble started well before tragic death

A wooden roller coaster, which is called El Toro and goes up to 70 miles per hour with a steep 176-foot drop, has been the subject of repeated safety reports and ongoing lawsuits in the past five years. In August of 2022, for example, more than a dozen people were injured after experiencing a violent jolt during the ride, according to court filings and state records reviewed by CNN. A month later, the state deemed the ride “structurally compromised” and the ride remained closed until June 2023, according to the legal complaint.

In Texas, many injury reports made to state regulators involved water park attractions, such as incidents in which riders were thrown from inner tubes, resulting in head injuries and other trauma. Other reports detail an 8-year-old breaking his arm after his legs got caught in the seat of a children’s ride, a 21-year-old who couldn’t move after riding on a roller coaster because of a back injury and a 37-year-old man who felt his neck “pop” after riding a different attraction and reported his hands going numb and almost fainting.

One guest at Six Flags Over Texas died more than a decade ago under circumstance s similar to this week’s tragedy in Georgia. In that case, which also received national attention, Rosa Esparza, 52, died after being ejected from the Texas Giant roller coaster.

Witnesses reported hearing a popping sound before Esparza went flying, and employees told police investigators that maintenance had fixed faulty sensors on the ride a few days prior. Police also heard from a man who claimed he had been injured on the same ride eight years earlier “when the safety bar didn’t properly hold me down” and a woman whose daughter had recorded the ride malfunctioning a week before Esparza’s death, with video showing the restraint bar spontaneously opening up before the ride left the station, records show.

In a statement at the time, Six Flags said an investigation had revealed that there had been no mechanical failure on the ride. The roller coaster r eopened two months after Esparza’s death with a number of new safety measures, including a newly designed T-bar restraint and seat belts.

CNN has requested data from other states where Six Flags operates, including Georgia, but officials have not yet responded.

Do you have information to share about a Six Flags theme park or ride? Email us at melanie.hicken@cnn.com or blake.ellis@cnn.com .

据 CNN 对公共记录和法庭文件的分析显示，在佐治亚州六旗主题公园本周发生致命事故之前的几年里，该公司一直被指控未能维护其公园，此前曾有数百起关于其老旧刺激游乐设施发生伤亡和危险故障的报告。

本周，在亚特兰大郊外佐治亚州六旗乐园的“歌利亚”过山车上，42岁的哈桑·吉哈德·伊本·卡里姆坠亡，另有多人受伤后，六旗乐园暂时关闭了七个州的10个游乐设施。

过去五年，涵盖三个不同州的十几个公园的安全记录显示，存在维护问题，例如火车脱轨、安全杆故障以及游客受伤（包括关节脱臼和脑震荡）。

六旗是美国最大的主题公园运营商，在13个州拥有30个水上乐园和游乐园。该公司在给CNN的一份声明中表示，它“致力于严格的游乐设施检查、维护和安全程序，以达到或超过行业标准”。

关于佐治亚州六旗乐园致命过山车事故，我们目前了解到的情况

但根据其近几年的财务报表显示，由于客流量疲软以及在 2024 年与竞争对手 Cedar Fair 合并后背负的沉重债务，六旗集团的财务状况一直不佳。

去年提起的两起投资者诉讼指控，在合并之前，六旗集团在大幅裁员的同时，推迟了基本的公园维护、基础设施维修和游乐设施更新。诉讼中引用的去年投资者电话会议上，一位六旗集团高管表示需要投资游乐园的“延期项目”，而另一位高管在回答一位财务分析师的提问时则表示，需要改进的项目“清单总是很长”。六旗集团尚未在法庭上对诉讼指控作出回应。

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一份投资者诉讼称，该公司“未能进行足够的资本投资以开展日常设施维护或改进游乐设施和景点，并大幅裁员”。另一份诉讼则指控六旗“多年来一直拖延或放弃”必要的维修工作。

今年夏天，六旗游乐园的安全问题就已备受质疑。此前，CNN的一项调查揭露了其最著名的过山车之一——位于六旗魔术山的X2过山车——与十几起严重的脑损伤、住院治疗甚至死亡事件有关。尽管该过山车问题重重，但官方仍维持运营了近二十年。然而，上个月，在CNN报道了7月份两名女性在短短六天内相隔六天被紧急送往医院接受脑部手术，以及超过100名受伤乘客提出脑损伤索赔后，该公司最终永久关闭了该过山车。

在CNN调查揭露多年来造成人员伤亡后，六旗乐园将关闭世界著名的过山车。

本周在佐治亚州发生的致命事故距离备受瞩目的X2过山车关闭不到两周。官方称，X2关闭的原因是游客对该游乐设施失去信心。佐治亚州六旗乐园总裁在一份声明中表示，乐园针对每项游乐设施都制定了“基于严格检查的全面安全计划”，并正在配合州调查人员的调查，同时也在对事故进行内部审查。

六旗集团未对向各州监管机构报告的游客受伤事件发表评论，但表示所有报告的游客受伤事件都“受到严肃对待”并会进行审查。官方还表示，CNN审查的事件“涉及多个园区、景点、年份、司法管辖区和具体情况，可能反映了各州不同的报告要求以及各种各样的事件和结果。因此，从汇总的报告中得出的总体结论可能无法全面反映任何个别事件的背景或我们整体的安全措施。”

与主题公园相关的事故仍然很少见，一份行业报告显示，2024 年大约会有 1500 起受伤事故。其中大多数被归类为与游客行为或健康状况有关，约 25% 是由技术或操作问题造成的，例如游乐设施的机械故障或操作员失误。

“即便遵循制造商和运营商制定的所有标准和其他特定程序，机械故障的可能性始终存在，”曾代表起诉六旗游乐园的原告方出庭作证的游乐设施工程师兼游乐设施安全专家爱德华·普里博尼克在电子邮件中表示。“然而，反复发生的安全事故和机械故障通常表明，出于某种原因，相关部门对标准和制造商的要求缺乏重视。”他指出，通常情况下，这些原因要么是预算限制，要么是“能力不足”。

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加州法律规定，如果“永久性游乐设施的维护、操作或使用导致任何人死亡或重伤，则经营者必须报告事故，除非该伤害不需要除普通急救以外的医疗服务”。

自2021年以来，该州监管机构已收到近300份来自六旗游乐园的事故报告。每起事故的细节有限，有些事故可能涉及其他因素，例如高温或潜在的健康问题。记录在案的事故包括化学灼伤、游乐设施泄漏的液压油溅入游客眼睛、关节脱位、脑震荡和骨折。

在新泽西州的六旗大冒险乐园，州政府记录显示也发生了类似的伤亡和故障。例如，乐园官员报告称，一列2024型火车因设备故障脱轨，造成轻微伤亡，并且多次发生安全杆在行驶过程中突然打开的情况——有时是由于螺栓断裂。此外，由于船只碰撞、卡住以及游乐设施部件故障冒烟等问题，游客曾七次被迫撤离激流勇进项目。还有一名儿童在乘坐过山车时头部多次撞击安全杆，随后被送往医院接受治疗。

六旗集团的财务困境早在悲剧发生之前就已经开始。

一座名为“El Toro”的木质过山车，最高时速可达70英里/小时，落差达176英尺，在过去五年中屡遭安全事故报告和诉讼。例如，据CNN查阅的法庭文件和州政府记录显示，2022年8月，十几人在乘坐该过山车时遭遇剧烈颠簸而受伤。一个月后，州政府认定该过山车“结构存在安全隐患”，并根据诉讼文件，该过山车一直关闭至2023年6月。

在德克萨斯州，向州监管机构提交的许多伤害报告都与水上乐园的游乐设施有关，例如游客从游泳圈中被甩出，导致头部受伤和其他创伤的事故。其他报告详细描述了以下事件：一名8岁儿童的腿被儿童游乐设施的座椅卡住，导致手臂骨折；一名21岁男子因背部受伤，在乘坐过山车后无法动弹；以及一名37岁男子在乘坐另一项游乐设施后感到脖子“咔嚓”一声，并报告说他的双手麻木，几乎昏厥。

十多年前，德克萨斯州六旗乐园也发生过一起与本周佐治亚州悲剧类似的死亡事件。当时，52岁的罗莎·埃斯帕扎（Rosa Esparza）在乘坐“德州巨人”（Texas Giant）过山车时被甩出车外身亡，这起事件也曾引起全国关注。

目击者称，在埃斯帕扎被甩出之前，他们听到了一声爆裂声。工作人员告诉警方调查人员，几天前维修人员刚刚修复了游乐设施上的故障传感器。警方还接到一名男子的询问，该男子声称八年前他曾在同一游乐设施上受伤，“当时安全杆没有把我牢牢固定住”。此外，警方还接到一名女子的询问，她的女儿在埃斯帕扎去世前一周拍摄了该游乐设施发生故障的视频，记录显示，视频显示，在游乐设施离开车站之前，安全杆突然打开。

当时，六旗集团在一份声明中表示，调查显示该过山车并未发生机械故障。埃斯帕扎去世两个月后，过山车重新开放，并采取了一系列新的安全措施，包括新设计的T型杆约束装置和安全带。

CNN已向六旗乐园运营的其他州（包括佐治亚州）索取数据，但相关官员尚未作出回应。

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