Swedish authorities are reporting that one person was killed and several others injured when a roller coaster derailed in Stockholm on Sunday. Park officials told Sweden’s public broadcaster SVT that that one of the carriages on the ‘Jetline’ rollercoaster derailed and people fell to the ground at the Gröna Lund amusement park. Gröna Lund, which opened in 1883, is Sweden’s oldest amusement park.
Park spokeswoman Annika Troselius told SVT: “It is incredibly tragic and shocking. Unfortunately we have been informed that one person is killed and many are injured.” Park chief executive Jan Eriksson added: “The front of the train partly derailed and stopped on the track at a height of between between 20 and 25 feet. A total of 14 people were on board, of which one person has died and several are injured.” Police later confirmed that seven people were hospitalized. The regional government said nine people were taken to a hospital, one of them in serious condition. Three of the injured were children, all of them with minor injuries.
The amusement park was evacuated after the accident and will remain closed for seven days to allow investigators to find out what went wrong. According to Gröna Lund, the 2,600-foot long Jetline rollercoaster opened in 1988 and was renovated in 2000. It has a maximum height of 98 feet and a top speed of 56 mph. Gröna Lund spokeswoman Annika Troselius said: “This should not be allowed to happen. Safety is the most important thing for us. And we would never open an attraction if we were not confident that it was safe, so this is something we need to investigate thoroughly.”
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