Thursday, April 13, 2006

2nd person (in less than a year) dies after riding Epcot's Mission Space

I rode this ride a couple weeks ago when I was in Florida. It was awesome!

ChickenMy friend Bob thought he was going to puke because of the bottle of wine he drank at dinner. (He didn’t.)
My brother Paul was too chicken to go… he rode it once before and said he’ll never ride it again.

From The Disney Blog:

Mission spaceSad news to report today. A second fatality in less than a year of a guest who complained of feeling ill after riding Epcot's Mission: Space attraction. This time a 49 year old woman from Germany was reportedly ill after riding the g-force intensive space simulator. She was transported to a hospital and later died. There are some reports that she may had suffered from some pre-existing conditions.

Previously a 4-year old boy died after riding Mission: Space. An autopsy later revealed an undiagnosed heart condition that was the cause of death.

Mission: Space was closed after the park learned the woman was in grave condition. State inspectors were then called in. It is unknown if the ride will return to regular operation tomorrow. But it did open the next day after the 4-year old boy died and the ride was found to be operating as normal.

The Orlando Sentinel has more including a statement from Disney and some injury statistics from the attraction and Jenn at Irish Wake is tracking the news coverage and any bias she detects.

Update: Disney has re-opened Mission:Space less than one day after closing it for inspection.

via

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