A 3-year-old boy somehow fell from a roller coaster at Idlewild Soak Zone in Ligonier, Penn., on Thursday. He was flown to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, but his current condition is unknown.
According to reports, a Westmoreland County 911 dispatcher said the boy fell from the coaster.
Mary Beth Eslary, spokeswoman for the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that when the 911 center was called at 12:18 p.m. the patient was at the first aid building.
“The immediate family was with the patient at the park,” Eslary said.
Park spokesman Jeff Croushore told reporters that the boy was riding the Rollo Coaster with his brother when the accident occurred. “The boy was conscious while being treated on site and airlifted to a local hospital.”
“He was talking, he was alert with his family, but he was airlifted to a local hospital.”
Pittsburgh’s Action News 4 is reporting that the boy suffered head and chest injuries.
Croushore said, “We are conducting an investigation on the incident that happened here today.” He noted that the ride would be closed pending the results of that investigation. He declined to comment about whether the boy fell out of the coaster.
While he wouldn’t give specifics about the accident, he said that “it was on the middle part” of the wooden coaster, which he said was built in 1938. “Our rides are inspected daily,” he told reporters.
According to Action News 4, “A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture said the Rollo Coaster was last inspected Aug. 6 by a private, certified inspector and it passed the inspection.”
The ride has a height requirement of 48″ for unaccompanied children and 36″ for children accompanied by an adult. It reaches a maximum height of 25 feet and a maximum speed of 25 mph.
This incident comes on the heels of a fatal injury of a 10-year-old boy at a waterpark in Kansas. The child suffered a fatal neck injury and was reportedly decapitated on a giant water slide at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark in Kansas City.
Next page: See a video of the Rollo Coaster in action.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member