A 14-year-old boy fell to his death on Thursday night after he slipped out of his seat on the 400 foot drop tower called the Orlando FreeFall ride at Orlando’s ICON theme park.
What a horrible accident. Our deepest sympathies to their family, families, and loved ones.
We are holding them in love. https://t.co/SPYyK9fQ2n
— Representative Rita Harris (@RitaForFlorida) March 25, 2022
Teenage Boy Dies
Daily Mail reported that the boy, who has not yet been identified publicly, was riding on the new Orlando Free Fall ride at the park. Employees at the amusement park thought a piece of the ride had come off at first before they saw the boy’s body on the ground.
“At first we thought it was a piece of the ride or whatever until we got a little closer and it was a person laying on the ground,” one employee told FOX 35 Orlando. “Everyone was just panicking and screaming.”
Graphic warning. This is extremely intense.
https://twitter.com/JosephMorrisYT/status/1507398994204499975
Find out more about his death in the video below.
And you can check out a video of the ride for yourself below. They confirm at the 1:04 minute mark that there are no seatbelts on the ride.
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‘World’s Tallest Free-Standing Drop Tower’
Attractions Magazine described the ride this way:
“The Orlando Free Fall at Icon Park will stand at 430 feet, making it the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower. Thirty riders will be able to enjoy the sights of Icon Park and I-Drive as the ride vehicles rotate around the gigantic tower and rises high into the skyline. Once the ride vehicle reaches the top, it’ll tilt forward 30 degrees and face the ground for a brief moment before free-falling nearly 400 feet at speeds reaching over 75 miles per hour.”
The SlingShot Group owns and operates this ride, and it’s CEO told WESH that they “operate the ride with all the safety precautions in mind. Everything is in place. And this is why we’re doing this investigation. We are working with those people investigating at this point.”
“Words can’t say how we feel,” he added, according to TODAY. “Our hearts go out to the family of this young man, and that’s all we can say at this time.”
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Less Than Two Years After Park Employee Fell To His Death
This comes less than two years after a 21-year-old employee at this park was killed after he fell 200 feet from the Orlando StarFlyer attraction while performing a safety check on the ride.
The employee, who was later identified as Jacob Kaminsky, went into cardiac arrest after falling to a platform below the ride at ICON Park on International Drive in Orlando. He was rushed to the hospital, where he later died of his injuries.
Find out more about that tragedy in the video below.
With two deaths happening in this park in less than two years, it seems clear that something needs to be done about the safety at this park. Please join us in saying a prayer for the 14-year-old boy that was killed last night’s family during this horrifyingly difficult time.