One person died and seven were injured on Sunday (June 25) after a roller coaster derailed at an amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden, police and the park told AFP.
“One person is sadly dead,” Cecilia Björling, spokeswoman for Gröna Lund, the official name of the park that was evacuated, told AFP. Stockholm police confirmed that seven people were injured and hospitalized.
“We received the alarm at around 11:39 a.m., a roller coaster derailed and several people were injured,” said Håkan Eriksson of the Swedish capital’s emergency services. Police and ambulances were dispatched to the scene of the accident.
The injured suffered injuries from falls, said Stockholm Police spokeswoman Helena Bostrom Thomas.
According to Jenny Lagerstedt, a correspondent for Swedish television SVT, who was at the scene, a Jetline attraction car broke loose and then fell from a very great height, taking several people with it.
“Suddenly I heard a thud and a metallic noise, then the rides started to shake,” she told the Swedish broadcaster. “My husband, sitting outside, saw a car (from the attraction) detach and fall.”
“It’s unimaginable,” Culture Minister Parisa Liljestrand told TT news agency. “I recently visited the park with my family and I can’t even imagine what it must be like when the best day suddenly turns into a nightmare.”
The roller coaster “Jetline”, a classic at Gröna Lund amusement park, was inaugurated in 1988 and travels at a speed of around 90 km/h.