It’s a sunny day with many visitors to Legoland when two trains on a roller coaster collide. 31 passengers are injured, including ten children. A meticulous reappraisal begins.
Günzburg – After the serious roller coaster accident in which 31 people were injured in Legoland in Günzburg, Swabia, investigations into the cause have begun. On Thursday evening, representatives of the Memmingen public prosecutor’s office got an overview of what was happening in the amusement park on Autobahn 8, as the police headquarters in Swabia South-West announced. An expert will be consulted to clarify the cause of the accident, it said. In addition, video recordings of the accident are to be evaluated.
According to the police, a train from the “Feuerdrache” roller coaster in the amusement park hit a train in front on Thursday afternoon and injured 31 people – one of them seriously. According to the police, the injured are ten children, one teenager and 20 adults. 16 of the injured were taken to a hospital, 15 were able to leave on Thursday evening.
Memory of incident in Klotten
It is still unclear how the momentous accident could have happened. According to Legoland, the “Feuerdrache” roller coaster first leads through a covered, darkened area of the park. Then it’s out into the open via a downhill stretch with a few bends. According to park information, the roller coaster travels at speeds of up to eight meters per second, which corresponds to around 29 kilometers per hour. As a police spokesman explained, neither a wagon derailed nor people fell out in the accident.
The accident is reminiscent of a fatal incident at an amusement park in Klotten on the Moselle in Rhineland-Palatinate last Saturday, when a 57-year-old woman fell from a moving roller coaster. There, too, the cause is still unclear. The park initially closed its gates for a few days.
In Legoland, operations continued normally after the accident on Thursday. As the amusement park announced on Thursday evening, this should also be the case on Friday. Only the “Feuerdrache” will remain closed until further notice. dpa
