M&D Scotland's Tsunami derails

This has only just happened, so unfortunately no further news at this time. Hope there are no fatalities:

http://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/glasgow-news/rollercoaster-mds-strathclyde-country-park-11527558

This is absolutely shocking, i'll be very surprised if there isn't any serious injuries. Really hope not though.

This is awful! The article says there are injuries, but I hope no one was seriously hurt/killed. I fear the worst, but my hopes and prayers go out to the ones riding and loved ones affected by this rare accident.

Details so far:

A rollercoaster has derailed at M&D’s theme park in Motherwell, according to reports.

 

It is believed the carriage on the Tsunami ride came off the tracks and plunged 30ft to the ground.

 

Eye witnesses claim eight to ten people were on board at the time of the accident....

Police, fire and ambulance officers are working at the scene in Strathclyde Country Park.

 

“We can confirm we are currently working with other emergency services to ascertain the full extent of the situation,” a Police Scotland statement said.

 

“We can confirm there are injured parties - approximately seven people.”

 

Gavin McInally, who was at the park with his children, said: “It’s carnage. The Tsumani plunged off the rails at a corner.

 

“There was definitely people on it, it was full - about 10 people.

"It will be a miracle if there are no fatalities.”

 

The park has now been evacuated by emergency services.

More photos:

Source.

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It's lucky that no one died.

Bad few years for black and yellow coasters. Holy cow

Wait... a Pinfari inverted coaster? That's a thing? Ugh

Bad few years for black and yellow coasters. Holy cow

Yeah, first the Smiler and now this.

Here's hoping that Lost Gravity isn't next. I mean, I hope it never happens again, but these things do happen unfortunately.

Wait... a Pinfari inverted coaster? That's a thing? Ugh

Suddenly, the SLC doesn't sound that bad. It's probably the difference from being hit by a semi and being hit by a sedan, but still.

Oh wow, that's horrible. M&D's did feel incredibly sketchy when I visited a few years back but this is still a big shock.

I really hope the poor guests involved somehow manage to come away from it without disastrous consequences.

From the Mirror website. That definitely shouldn't happen.

Looks like the riders might have got 'lucky' with how the train has landed though.

This is really sad, hope they can find out what really lead to the accident. Let's stop blaming the manufacturer for now, it can be poor maintenance, construction etc that lead to the accident. Yes Pinfari never made anything not sketchy but this is their first major accident (?)

Hope all the injured riders will recover well.

This is really sad, hope they can find out what really lead to the accident. Let's stop blaming the manufacturer for now, it can be poor maintenance, construction etc that lead to the accident. Yes Pinfari never made anything not sketchy but this is their first major accident (?)

 

Hope all the injured riders will recover well.

Tons and tons of questions. Immediately I think "Does Interpark support these rides?" Pinfari doesn't exist any more, and as such who machines replacement bits?

In all seriousness, a whole coaster coming off the rails is pretty much unprecedented in modern times.

In all seriousness, a whole coaster coming off the rails is pretty much unprecedented in modern times.

Did the whole coaster come off the rails though?? From the photos so far it only looks like one car came off the track.

In all seriousness, a whole coaster coming off the rails is pretty much unprecedented in modern times.

 

Did the whole coaster come off the rails though?? From the photos so far it only looks like one car came off the track.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3660890/Rollercoaster-ten-people-board-derails-Scottish-theme-park-plunges-30ft-ground.html

The pictures are pretty clear that it is the entire train. Wheel assemblies are laying all over the midway.

The pictures are pretty clear that it is the entire train. Wheel assemblies are laying all over the midway.

Okay, that makes more sense now. I had not seen those photos yet. Wow. That's crazy.

That is some serious shit right there! I really wonder what could have caused this, I can understand a wheel assembly coming off but the whole train??

Wow their really lucky no one died and I mean really lucky. And do my eye's deceive me or did it really come off at almost the end of the first drop? If so that must have had it's full velocity.

Wow that's amazing nobody died, hopefully nobody is too severely injured. Those pictures are scary.

This isn't important at all but why does that coaster have the Philadelphia Eagles exact logo on the trains?

According to this article in the Metro, this is the eighth incident in the past 5 years at the park. The same article also says that Tsunami had a previous incident that the Health & Safety Executive described as a "dangerous occurence", so it seems like the park could be shouldering a lot of flak for this if they haven't improved from that incident.

Wow their really lucky no one died and I mean really lucky. And do my eye's deceive me or did it really come off at almost the end of the first drop? If so that must have had it's full velocity.

i don't think we know yet if anyone was killed. it seems quite possible.

also, i found this snippet from the article interesting:

She said: 'While I waited to get on the ride I was watching the carriage going round before I got on, and the ride came to a sudden stop while they where going round.

'The ride then started again and managed to gain full speed again, the whole carriage can flying off the rail.'

Others said on Facebook that people on the ride had been taken to hospital, while many said the ride had been closed for maintenance for much of yesterday.

i'm not sure what she means by it stopped and then regained full speed ... but it sounds like the ride should not have been in operation in the first place. (easy to say in retrospect, i suppose)

She said: 'While I waited to get on the ride I was watching the carriage going round before I got on, and the ride came to a sudden stop while they where going round.

'The ride then started again and managed to gain full speed again, the whole carriage can flying off the rail.'

Others said on Facebook that people on the ride had been taken to hospital, while many said the ride had been closed for maintenance for much of yesterday.

 

i'm not sure what she means by it stopped and then regained full speed ... but it sounds like the ride should not have been in operation in the first place. (easy to say in retrospect, i suppose)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say none of that ever happened. Eyewitness reports while basically the entire area is in chaos are rarely reliable.

BBC news 24 has just confirmed that 9 children and two adults have been injured. Emergency services are still with them, the more seriously injured have already been taken out of the park by ambulance services to hospital. They also said that it has been estimated that the coaster would have been travelling at around 35mph at the point the car left the track. They did not say if this information came from eye witnesses, the emergency services or the park itself.

Saw what happened on Twitter and then I saw that the park immediately made their Twitter private.

Terrible what happened... and unbelievably scary!

To land all the way over there the cars would have had to derail either at the bottom of the first drop, or on the sweeping curve before the brake run. Those are the only two places that (I think) the coaster would have had enough speed / inertia / momentum / forces / whatever in that direction to end up outside the ride boundary there.

I recall SFGAm's Demon came to an abrupt stop when components failed on the wheel assembly- but it stayed put after the fact, upside down.

That said, when it comes to eyewitnesses, the mind has a funny way of processing things/recalling an incident when it's as shocking as this is. People watching a plane crash often come away with conflicting recollections. One may see fire when there was none, another will see it breaking up in-flight, and yet another will hear an engine sputter- only for an investigation to conclude that neither of the three occurred. I doubt in this case an investigation will take too long.

Hopefully the riders are going to be ok- this is one of those things that in the back of my mind I know is possible, but the odds against it are so astronomical that I'd never consider it happening.

BBC news 24 has just confirmed that 9 children and two adults have been injured. Emergency services are still with them, the more seriously injured have already been taken out of the park by ambulance services to hospital. They also said that it has been estimated that the coaster would have been travelling at around 35mph at the point the car left the track. They did not say if this information came from eye witnesses, the emergency services or the park itself.

The fact that they're still talking about injuries and not fatalities is good to hear. Obviously things could change but if everyone comes out of this alive that would actually be a minor miracle.