Swedish accident investigators announced on Friday that the country’s oldest amusement park, Grona Lund, failed to adequately test new parts for a roller coaster that derailed last year, resulting in one fatality and nine injuries, one serious.
The derailment, which occurred on June 25th, was attributed by the Swedish Accident Investigation Authority to “deficiencies in the ordering, manufacturing and testing of new support arms for the Jetline trains.” They stated that the support arms were not sufficiently robust.
The roller coaster was carrying 11 passengers at the time of the derailment. The front of the train jumped the tracks, causing one car to tilt towards the ground. A woman in her 30s was ejected from the ride and died. Two others also fell from the train, one sustaining serious injuries and the other minor injuries. Seven additional passengers sustained minor injuries.
Grona Lund park CEO Jan Eriksson declared at a press conference that “out of respect for the accident and everyone involved, we have decided to close Jetline for good.”
“Something like this has never happened before at Grona Lund and we will make sure that something like this will never happen again,” Eriksson said, according to Swedish news agency TT.
Police have initiated a separate investigation into the derailment. Christer B. Jarlås, a prosecutor for the National Unit for Environmental and Work Environment, said that police have conducted extensive interrogations, technical examinations of the train carriages, and material analyses. He stated that there is currently no timeframe for when a decision will be made on whether to file charges against anyone.
The 800-meter-long roller coaster, which opened in 1988 and was renovated in 2000, according to Grona Lund, has a maximum height of 98 feet and a top speed of 56 mph.
Grona Lund opened in 1883.