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Original story: Six Flags Over Texas announced Saturday morning that the Texas Giant roller coaster will remain closed as authorities investigate a woman's fatal plunge from the Texas Giant roller coaster Friday night.
The Arlington amusement park still has released few details beyond reporting that its medical staff and city paramedics had responded immediately. The victim’s name was not released.
Besides keeping the ride closed, Six Flags has canceled a concert by singer and actress Bridgit Mendler that had been scheduled for Saturday night.
Park officials offered their condolences to the woman’s family as investigators began to study the cause of the accident, which occurred after 6:30 p.m. Although the ride was closed, the park remained open through the evening.
Early attention was beginning to focus on witnesses’ reports that the woman’s safety restraint may have come undone.
Carmen Brown of Arlington was waiting in line as the victim was being secured in for the ride. She said she believed that the woman’s son was on the ride with her.
Brown said the woman had expressed concern to a park employee that she was not secured correctly in her seat.
“He was basically nonchalant,” Brown said. “He was, like, ‘As long as you heard it click, you’re fine.’ Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn’t feel safe. But they let her still get on the ride.”
She said the victim fell out of the ride as it made a sudden maneuver.
“The lady basically tumbled over,” she said. “We heard her screaming. We were, like, ‘Did she just fall?’”
Investigators were interviewing witnesses on the ride, some of whom reported that the woman had been thrown from the roller coaster as it rounded a turn. Arlington police declined to comment on the accident.
Hysterical passengers had to wait to disembark as the train stopped short of the platform.
John and Darlene Putman of Rockwall said they were in line to board the roller coaster as the train in which the woman had been riding returned.
John Putman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he heard two people screaming, “‘My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!’”
Reports from park visitors began spreading rapidly on social media online, drawing worried parents and others to the gates to check on family members.
Joshua Paul Fleak posted on Twitter that he believed that the woman’s restraint had come undone.
“Just witnessed someone fly off of the Texas giant two seats in front of me,” he said. “… Coaster turned and she was gone.”
The Texas Giant opened in 1990 as the world’s tallest wooden roller coaster but was closed in November 2009 to convert it to a steel-and-wood hybrid.
Although the rebuilt ride incorporates some of the original structure, it includes 4,700 feet of new track.
When it reopened in April 2011, the expanded coaster offered a smoother ride and a higher top speed of 65 mph. It features a 79-degree drop and three turns sharper than 90 degrees.
Friday’s accident was the second ride fatality for a guest at the park since it opened in 1961.
In 1999, Valeria Cartwright of West Helena, Ark., drowned when a Roaring Rapids raft capsized. Ten other people were injured in that accident.
In March 2006, passengers on the park’s Texas Tornado ride reported injuries when the ride slowed rapidly and several of its swings collided.
In another amusement park accident Friday, a boat on a thrill ride at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, rolled backward down a hill and flipped over in water when the ride malfunctioned, injuring all seven people on it.
Six Flags Entertainment Corp. emerged from bankruptcy protection in 2010 after the company said it needed to shed $1.8 billion in debt. In April, the company posted record revenue.

Update at 11:15 a.m.: Six Flags released another short statement early Saturday morning:
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family. The investigation into the death at Texas Giant is still ongoing. We are working closely with authorities to determine the cause of the accident. The ride will remain closed. In addition, we have canceled the concert that was scheduled for today."
The park clarified that the investigation is "internal" and no other park attractions will be closed because of the accident.
The KIDZ Star USA talent search auditions on Saturday and Sunday have been cancelled. This follows the earlier cancellation of a Saturday night concert from Bridgit Mendler.

Update at 4:22 p.m.: The family of the woman who fell to her death Friday night has identified her as Rosy Esparza of Dallas.

John Putman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that he heard two people screaming, “‘My mom! My mom! Let us out, we need to go get her!’”

Saw her pic, she's pretty big ..... I'll leave it at that.

“The lady basically tumbled over,” she said. “We heard her screaming. We were, like, ‘Did she just fall?’”

No, I agree with their decision to keep it running.
If I was a visitor there I'd be devastated to hear everything is shut down cause of an accident in a single ride. Of course it's terrible for those involved, but no reason to screw those that have nothing to do with it.
It's also not really a reason to shut down any other rides. Every ride has different mechanisms that are unrelated to each other. Just cause one breaks, means nothing to the rest.
Additionally it might not even have been broken, but the woman being overweight...

The people working there however...
If someone raises a safety issue and the crew just shrugs it off when it's the primary reason they are there to begin with...

Budo... In my field of work, they'll shut an entire pipeline down to give a safety orientation even if it was someone that was killed in another state. Now we don't get off work, or shut down for a week, but we are made aware of the events, and how to prevent them. Then we're back to work.

There really isn't a need to shut a job down, but I'm sure they still made damn sure they had employee meetings at their parks state wide.(not sure if 6 flags is located anywhere but Texas)

One of the employees from the park — one of the ladies
she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, ‘As long you heard
it click, you’re OK.’ Everybody else is like, ‘Click, click, click.’

“Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn’t feel safe
but they let her still get on the ride,” Brown said.

I'm an engineer, not an ethic <__>
From a rational point of view there's no reason to shut down anything but the ride which had the incident.
It's the way to avoid as much as possible panic, and ruin as few people's days as possible.
It's the way to keep the situation under control.

And I'm not hiding the situation or anything, I'm just trying to have as few people involved as possible.
As for a similar situation brewing elsewhere? Well shit, warn the staff to be careful with fat people as soon as information is available. I shouldn't even have to mention that...

Budo... In my field of work, they'll shut an entire pipeline down to give a safety orientation even if it was someone that was killed in another state.

Budo... In my field of work, they'll shut an entire pipeline down to give a safety orientation even if it was someone that was killed in another state. Now we don't get off work, or shut down for a week, but we are made aware of the events, and how to prevent them. Then we're back to work.

There really isn't a need to shut a job down, but I'm sure they still made damn sure they had employee meetings at their parks state wide.(not sure if 6 flags is located anywhere but Texas)

Kinda OT, but I wish Nissan did this. There was a guy who was crushed and killed in the plant during production hours. We never stopped, everybody just shrugged and kept working without a single shit given. :l

Judging by what the witness said the woman obviously wasn't properly buckled in, more or less because of her size.
If I couldn't be buckled in properly, regardless of my size I would just get off the ride.
I'm still waiting to see "super sized" amusement parks to fit our large American cows.

What Nitro's seatbelt looks like:

Holy crap... That doesn't look safe to me.