US theme park operator Six Flags shuts nine roller coasters after man dies

One person has died and several others were injured in an incident on a roller coaster at a Six Flags park in the US state of Georgia, prompting the company to temporarily shut nine similar rides at six of its parks on Monday.

A Six Flags spokesperson said the attractions, which resemble the coaster involved at Six Flags Over Georgia, were closed “out of an abundance of caution.”

The park lies about 24 kilometres (15 miles) northwest of Atlanta. Officials have not said how the person died, how the others were hurt or what condition they are in. Detectives from the Cobb County Police Department’s major crimes unit are investigating.

The spokesperson said the park and local authorities had responded immediately, and that Six Flags was cooperating fully with the investigation.

“We are deeply saddened by the guest incident at our park today,” the spokesperson said, adding that the company was supporting the guests and staff affected.

Neither the authorities nor Six Flags named the ride, but local television stations broadcast footage of passengers being evacuated from the Goliath coaster.

According to the park’s website, Goliath opened in 2006 and reaches speeds of 70 mph (about 113 kph) and heights of 200 feet (61 metres). Over roughly three and a half minutes, riders “navigate through razor-sharp turns and soar over colossal hills,” the website says.

“I cannot imagine the horror the patrons and employees witnessed today, and my heart aches for the family who lost a loved one,” said Lisa Cupid, chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. She said the victim’s next of kin had been informed.

Cupid described the park as a major part of the county’s tourism industry, drawing visitors from across the south east of the US.

“We are all grappling with how something so devastating could happen at a place that has given generations of families such happy memories,” she said.

The death is at least the seventh at the Georgia park, according to the Doan Law Firm, which specialises in amusement park accidents. They include a 2006 case in which a man had a suspected heart attack on Goliath.