Screaming passengers can be
heard pleading for the ride to stop, Video footage had emerge seconds after the
crash at Alton Towers.
In the video, the 16 people
on board The Smiler ride are seen rocking backwards and forwards, after the
carriage they were travelling in collided with a stationary carriage.
A voice in the recording is
heard saying how the victims' car had "come round full speed into the
back" of the empty carriage on a low section of the track.
The two carriages appeared
to be locked together in the aftermath of the crash, as the passengers swung
from side to side.
Alton Towers staff were
quick to evacuate the area following the accident, which left four people with
"significant lower limb injuries" - and the amusement park is closed
today as an investigation continues.
"Members of the Health
and Safety Executive, as well as the park's own investigators, will be
continuing to look into exactly how this incident happened.
"It's something that
shouldn't have happened, according to the company which owns and runs Alton
Towers – as there should be failsafe systems in place which means that braking
systems come into operation to prevent two carriages being on the same section
of track at any one time.
The two men and two women
who sustained serious leg injuries were still being treated on the scene by
medics four-and-a-half hours after the crash - as some passengers were trapped
25ft in the air.
The four hurt, aged between
17 and 27, were airlifted to major trauma centres - and 12 others on the ride
also received medical treatment, including a man in his 20s who suffered neck
and abdominal injuries.
Nick Varney, chief
executive of Merlin Entertainments, which runs the park, told Sky News:
"It goes without saying that I and the whole team here are totally
devastated and a little bit shell-shocked by what’s happened.
"Our thoughts are
obviously with those that were injured and their families.
Skynews
I will never go on that ride again, poor souls
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