Six Flags shuts down X2 rollercoaster after hundreds allege brain injuries

Image source, Getty ImagesBySareen HabeshianReporting fromLos Angeles Six Flags Magic Mountain, an amusement park in California, has announced it will permanently close a popular rollercoaster after hundreds of riders alleged they suffered brain injuries.

A montanha‑russa X2, uma das principais atrações do parque, com longos tempos de espera para andar e assentos que giram 360 graus, está fechada desde julho.

Six Flags said the ride had passed a range of safety tests, but that it had decided to retire it because it was "the right thing to do.

A decisão vem após processos e reportagens que alegaram que centenas de ciclistas sofreram lesões cerebrais após pilotar o X2. Um escritório de advocacia que representa alguns dos demandantes afirmou que a decisão chegou "too late" para seus clientes.

Announcing the closure on Tuesday, , external Six Flags Magic Mountain Park President Brian Oerding said: "Ride safety is a cornerstone of our business, and when we see guest confidence affected, we take it seriously.

Dordick Law Corporation, who filed civil lawsuits against the park, said it had been contacted by hundreds of people who alleged they had injuries they believed were caused by the ride.

They got on X2 expecting a thrill. Instead, they left with catastrophic brain injuries," the firm said in a statement. "Some needed emergency brain surgery. Some are still fighting to get their lives back.

O escritório de advocacia disse que, embora acolhesse o fechamento da atração para proteger futuros hóspedes, "it does nothing for the people who have already been hurt.

Originally called X, the ride first opened in 2002 but was closed months later for repairs to design flaws, the Los Angeles Times reports. It was then closed again in 2007 to replace its trains with lighter versions.

Ele reabriu no ano seguinte como X2 e, desde então, foi montado por mais de 16 milhões de pessoas, disse o parque.

A law firm that represented the family of 22-year-old Christopher Hawley, who died after riding X2 in 2022, said the closure was not enough.

While the Hawley family is "relieved to hear that Six Flags is finally closing the X2, it does not change the fact that Christopher Hawley was killed by a dangerous roller coaster that was allowed to operate for nearly two decades," attorney Brent Wisner of Wisner Baum LLP said in a statement to the BBC.

Hawley's family settled a wrongful death suit with the theme park in August.

Essa tragédia não pode ser desfeita, disse Wisner, pedindo reforma legal, regulação proativa e supervisão governamental adequada.

We cannot rely on profit-centered corporations to do the right thing only after enough people have been hurt," he added. "We hope that whatever replaces the X2 is safe.

Em números

• Ele reabriu no ano seguinte como X2 e, desde então, foi montado por mais de 16 milhões de pessoas, disse o parque