Wongel Estifanos was just six years old when she was on a ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado in the US and tragically fell to her death
A six-year-old girl who died after falling 110ft from a ride at a Colorado theme park was sitting on the seatbelts instead of wearing them, a report has concluded.
Wongel Estifanos’ death was investigated by an investigation that revealed that ride operators didn’t prepare the seatbelts for the ride before passengers could be seated.
Wongel Estifanos, a Colorado Springs resident, was killed by blunt force injuries on September 5. She was ejected from the Haunted Mine Ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, Glenwood Springs.
She was in Glenwood Springs on vacation with her family during the US Labor Day weekend.
Her death was “the result of multiple operator errors, including the failure to make sure that the child was restrained”, the report by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Oil and Public Safety showed.
The child was wearing her seat belts across her lap, but not on top of the two old buckled seat belts.
The operators did not pay attention to the alarm system warning them that the issue was occurring because they were newly hired and had not been properly trained.
Estifanos was seated on Estifanos’ lap seatbelts, which the operators failed to notice.
Investigators claimed that one of them reset the system and started to dispatch the ride.
The report described how Wongel died after she came out of the ride that plunges six riders about 110ft down into a mineshaft in a “gravity freefall”.
In a statement issued through their lawyer, Wongel’s family said: “The report confirms that Wongel was killed because of multiple failures by the amusement park and its operators, including the operators’ failure to buckle Wongel into the ride.
“The State of Colorado report also confirms that the amusement park is 100 percent responsible for buckling in all riders.”
The statement continues: “Wongel’s parents are determined to do everything in their power to make sure that no one ever dies this way again.
“As part of this mission, they are asking witnesses to come forward, including folks who experienced problems with the Haunted Mine Drop before Wongel was killed on it.”
Enforcement will be taken after the investigation revealed violations of Colorado Amusement Rides and Devices Regulations.
Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park issued a statement saying they were “heartbroken” by the tragic incident and said that “safety is, and always has been, our top priority”.