A Missouri couple sprang into action to save a girl on a roller coaster after her seat belt allegedly failed mid-ride.
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Speaking with Fox 8, Chris and Cassie Evans explained what happened. They had been riding the Mamba roller coaster at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City on Oct. 11. According to the couple, the girl behind them started screaming and not in a fun way either.
“We get on the roller coaster and the very first hill, the girl sitting behind my wife just lets out this blood-curdling scream, like I’ve never heard before,” Chris told Fox 8. “I assumed it was her first time on the ride, but then she said her seat belt came undone.”
Wild Time On A Roller Coaster
Immediately, the couple did whatever they could to stop the girl from flying out of the rollercoaster.
“I had looped my arm underneath her lap bar, which had a pretty big gap between her and the lap bar. So at this point, I’m seeing a huge space, no seat belt. I looped my arm underneath the lap bar, and I grabbed a hold of her wrist. My wife was pushing down on her legs,” he told Fox 8.
With the roller coaster accelerating to 75 mph and dropping 205 feet, it was a challenge.
“As we crested each hill or as we started to go up to the top, I recognized that it was going to lift her out of her seat. So I kind of shifted our positions to, instead of holding her, to push down on her whole body to keep her from coming out of the seat while we’re going over those hills,” he added.
Following the incident, a Worlds of Fun spokesperson said the theme park shutdown the ride but later reopened it the same day.
“Following the report of a guest concern on the ride earlier this month, our team immediately closed the ride and completed a thorough inspection before reopening it that evening. The ride is equipped with a multi-layered restraint system, with the lap bar being the primary restraints and were found to be fully functioning in multiple inspections. The ride has operated safely since the initial concern was raised,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the ride underwent a “comprehensive safety review, and we implemented modifications requested by the Fire Marshall to ensure it meets or exceeds all applicable safety standards […].”