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One dead, others injured in Japanese coaster derailment

2007-05-05

By Robert Niles: A roller coaster derailment in Japan killed one woman and injured about 20 others today. The accident on the Fujin-Raijin II coaster at Expoland park in Suita, Osaka happened on "Children's Day" during the Golden Week holidays in Japan.

Reports claim that an axle broke on one of the trains of the car, causing the derailment and sending the car into a guardrail at high speed.

Here are two reports:

Readers' Opinions

From Franki Brock on May 6, 2007 at 10:49 AM
God bless those families!
From Eric Malone on May 6, 2007 at 11:47 AM
That's always been a nightmare for me. Hope everyone's okay.
From Iris Hernandez on May 6, 2007 at 5:40 PM
My thoughts and prayers go to those families. Personally, this is one way i am not afraid of dying, cuase it was something that i loved to do. I hope those that were injured make a quick and safe recovery.
From Robert OGrosky on May 6, 2007 at 7:26 PM
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070506a1.html

Interesting article about the accident and I pulled the quote below which if true is scary!! Something a lawyer in the US would love.


"Expoland said it disassembled the coasters on the ride in annual detailed inspections normally held in February. But this year, it did not disassemble them — and the axle went unchecked — because it could not find sufficient work space, the operator said.

The axle was not among the parts checked in regular daily or monthly inspections and had not been serviced since February 2006. The operator said the axle had not been replaced since the roller coaster was introduced in March 1992."

From Peter Rowe on May 7, 2007 at 9:47 AM
As someone that has a lot of experience with the design and testing of coasters, I am surprised that a single point failure can result in derailment. Due to the constantly reversing loads on coaster parts, stress cracking is a constant nightmare. My heart goes out to the families involved.

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