People visit the Grona Lund amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden, September 5, 2009. A fatal accident occurred on the park’s Jetline roller coaster on June 25, 2023, according to local media.
TT news agency | via Reuters
A roller coaster train derailed in Stockholm on Sunday, sending some passengers to the ground in an accident at an amusement park that left one dead and nine injured, police and park officials said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene at Gröna Lund Park when the front of the train appeared to slide off the tracks before coming to a stop, with one carriage leaning to the ground.
“The front of the train partly derailed and came to a stop on the track at a height of 20 to 25 feet (6 to 8 meters),” park chief executive Jan Eriksson said. “A total of 14 people were on board, of which one person died and several were injured.”
The regional government said nine people were taken to a hospital, one of them in serious condition. Three of the injured were children, all with minor injuries, he said.
Witness Ziba Assadi told Swedish broadcaster TV4 that she was standing just below the Jetline roller coaster when she saw the wheels of one of the cars crash to the ground.
“Then the car stops and people are thrown out, falling out of the car,” he said.
Witnesses said that two or three people fell out of the car, one of whom managed to grab onto the road. Photos from the scene showed a man sitting on a beam below the stopped train.
“So he sits astride (the beam) and waits,” Assadi said. “There was a total panic.”
The amusement park was evacuated after the accident and will remain closed for seven days to allow investigators to figure out what went wrong, park officials said.
“This must not be allowed to happen,” Gröna Lund spokeswoman Annika Troselius said. “Safety is the most important thing to us. And we would never open an attraction if we weren’t sure it was safe, so this is something we need to look into thoroughly.”
Police have launched a criminal investigation on possible charges of manslaughter, bodily harm, and endangerment to others.
The 800-meter (2,600 ft) long Jetline roller coaster opened in 1988 and was renovated in 2000, according to Gröna Lund. It has a maximum height of 30 meters (98 feet) and a top speed of 90 kph (56 mph).
Opened in 1883, Gröna Lund is the oldest amusement park in Sweden.
