Coaster Crash Kills 2 in N.J.
Two people were killed and two injured Saturday in a roller coaster accident at an amusement park on the beachfront Boardwalk in Ocean City, N.J.
Police said the 10 p.m. accident at Gillian’s Wonderland Pier was caused by a mechanical malfunction.
Witnesses said one car crashed into the rear of another on the Wild Wonder ride at the resort about 10 miles south of Atlantic City. A child and an adult were killed, said a nursing supervisor at Shore Memorial Medical Center. Another child and adult were treated at the hospital and released.
The deaths come less than a week after two amusement park ride accidents in California, including one in which a 12-year-old boy plunged to his death from a ride at Paramount’s Great America in Santa Clara a week ago. On Monday, five people at Knott’s Berry Farm were injured when a 3-foot piece of wood broke loose from the GhostRider roller coaster.
A California Senate committee last week voted to require statewide inspections of all amusement park rides, legislation prompted by a fatal Christmas Eve accident at Disneyland.
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