Six Flags says it will add seat belts to several of its roller coasters following the death of a Georgia man who fell from a ride that depended on lap restraints to keep riders secure.
The decision comes less than two weeks after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem was ejected from the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Oct. 12. Witnesses said they saw Kariem rise from his seat and drop headfirst back into the cart before he was thrown from the ride. Some passengers who rode Goliath earlier that day also reported concerns about its restraints.
Eight other Six Flags coasters with similar restraint systems remain closed across the United States and Canada while investigators try to determine what went wrong. Goliath itself also remains shut as state and local officials examine Kariem's death.
Six Flags Entertainment President and CEO John Reilly described the company's response in a statement released Friday. "We are reinforcing safety precautions at our parks and taking additional measures, including adding seat belts on Goliath and other coasters with a similar restraint," he said.
The company has not said which other coasters will receive seat belts, nor when the closed rides might reopen. It did say it has brought in independent engineers and inspectors to review safety procedures at its theme parks.
All nine coasters taken out of service were built by Bolliger & Mabillard, a Swiss manufacturer. Each uses a padded restraint that locks over a rider's lap and upper legs and is held in place by a bar between the knees. A U.S. patent granted to the company in 2001 said the design was meant to give riders the sensation of sitting on a "flying carpet" while still "guaranteeing optimum security."
The eight additional closed coasters are located at Six Flags parks in Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Ontario, Canada.
The incident also led to precautionary closures at parks not owned by Six Flags. SeaWorld Orlando temporarily shut down its Mako roller coaster, which uses a similar restraint system, and reopened it Tuesday after a weeklong closure. A roller coaster at La Ronde in Montreal was also closed temporarily.
