Any time someone passes away or suffers a life-changing injury at an amusement park it sends shockwaves around the globe.

Millions put their trust in ride operators and engineers every year, and while rollercoaster accidents are rare, it’s extremely devastating and terrifying when one does occur.

Most recently, Kevin Rodriguez Zavala, 32, died after riding the Universal rollercoaster Stardust Racers last week.

Rodriguez Zavala, who used a wheelchair due to an unspecified past spinal injury, was found unresponsive on the ride at Universal Studios’ brand new park Epic Universe in Orlando, Florida, which opened in May.

He was later pronounced dead at the hospital and the cause of death was ‘blunt force trauma.’

Local media reported that he did not fall from the ride, but sustained injuries while on board. The exact cause is being investigated by the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. 

The incident has raised many questions, but it’s sadly not the first tragic theme park incident to occur.

From terrifying crashes and derailments to gruesome decapitations and amputations, take a look back at the most horrific rollercoaster accidents of all time. 

A teen was decapitated after being struck by a rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia

In June 2008, 17-year-old Asia LeeShawn Ferguson IV jumped over two fences and entered into a restricted area of Six Flags Over Georgia.

He was then struck by the Batman rollercoaster and decapitated.

At the time, it was reported that the teenager was trying to retrieve a hat that had fallen into the area, but police later ruled out that theory. 

‘We do not know why this person was intent on gaining access to this restricted area. Multiple signs clearly state “Do Not Enter” and “Authorized Personnel Only,”‘ a spokesperson for the park said afterwards.

His parents also told the Associated Press at the time, ‘Nobody knows but my son and the Lord. We don’t know because we weren’t with him at the time.’

To this day it’s still not known when he entered the area. State regulators required Six Flags to increase the size and number of warning signs on their fences afterwards. 

Four riders were brutally crushed to death on a river rapids ride at Dreamworld in Australia

In October 2016, the Thunder River Rapids ride at Dreamworld theme park in Queensland, Australia, suffered a terrifying mishap that resulted in the deaths of four people.

A malfunction of a water pump caused the water level on the ride to suddenly drop, which resulted in an empty raft getting stuck just before the load area.

A raft full of riders came barreling into the empty one, flipping and throwing two passengers into the water.

But four others became trapped underneath the tube and the wooden conveyor belt, ultimately getting crushed to death.

The ride was permanently closed afterwards. In 2020, Dreamworld’s parent company plead guilty to three breaches of workplace health and safety laws and was fined $3.6 million.

In addition, a settlement amount for $2.1 million was paid to the family of one of the victims.

A 14-year-old plummeted to his death at ICON Park in Orlando

Tyre Sampson, 14, tragically fell to his death while he was riding the Orlando Free Fall ride at ICON Park in March 2022.

The ride was the world’s tallest free-standing drop tower when it opened just three months prior, taking guests up 430-feet before dropping at 70 mph.

Tyre reportedly weighed 380 pounds and the ride had a 287-pound weight limit, per CBS News. 

It was later revealed that the restraint proximity sensors of the harness on his seat had been manually adjusted to accommodate his bigger size, which allowed him to slip out.

The ride was demolished after the incident, and the Tyre Sampson Act was passed that says any rides over 100 feet high must have both seat belts and harnesses.

The attraction’s manufacturer was ordered to pay $310 million to the victim’s family in March 2022. 

A young girl had both her feet severed after a cable snapped while on a ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom

Thirteen-year-old Kaitlyn Lassiter’s life was changed forever after a cable snapped while she was riding Superman: Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in June 2007.

Similar to the Orlando Free Fall, the ride brought passengers up a 177-foot tower before dropping.

When the cable broke it wrapped around her legs, resulting in both of her feet getting severed above the ankles as the ride dropped.

Doctors were ultimately able to reattach her right foot but the left had to be amputated.

According to reports, ride operators heard Kaitlyn and her friends screaming for help but did not hit the emergency stop button until it was too late.

The ride was closed afterwards, and Kaitlyn’s family later sued Six Flags and reached a confidential settlement.

Two riders needed amputations after a rollercoaster at Alton Towers crashed into another train at full speed

Tragedy struck Alton Towers in the UK in June 2015, when a train full of riders on The Smiler rollercoaster crashed into an empty one.

The empty train was doing a test run but stalled due to a gust of wind.

While the ride’s protection system shut down the ride, it was overridden by an operator on duty who didn’t realize the train was stopped on the tracks.

The cart full of passengers came barreling into the empty one at full speed, resulting in 16 guests getting injured.

The gruesome incident led to 17-year-old Leah Washington-Pugh needing to amputate her left leg above the knee and 19-year-old Vicky Balch needing a partial leg amputation.

Joe Pugh, 18,  shattered both of his kneecaps and severing some of his fingers.

The ride reopened in March 2016 with additional safety features added. The company operating the ride was fined roughly $6.6 million.

A six-year-old fell to her death at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park after failing to put on her seatbelt

In September 2021, a six-year-old girl named Wongel Estifanos tragically died after she fell 110-feet from the Haunted Mine Drop ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado.

It was later revealed that she was sitting on top of the two seatbelts for the ride rather than them being on her lap. 

The workers checking riders’ seatbelts didn’t notice.

According to reports, an indicator light alerted employees there was an issue with her harness but they ‘did not know how to respond, so they dispatched the ride.’

The ride was closed for two years but reopened in 2023 with a new name, Crystal Tower.

Last week, a jury awarded the girl’s family $205 million.

A spokesperson for the park said afterwards that while their ‘hearts go out to the family of Wongel Estifanos and everyone affected by the tragic accident that happened on September 5, 2021, if the jury verdict remains as it is, hundreds of local jobs are in peril.’

The spokesperson also noted that the jury allocated significant fault to the other defendant that designed the ride, which they say told Glenwood Caverns that the ride met ‘all applicable standards, which was untrue.’

A 10-year-old boy was decapitated after his raft on a waterslide became airborne at a Kansas water park

When the Verrückt slide opened at Schlitterbahn Kansas City water park in 2014, it was hailed as the tallest water slide in the world, towering at 168 feet.

But two years after it debuted, in August 2016, a 10-year-old boy named Caleb Schwab was horrifically killed while riding it.

The raft he was on went airborne during its ascent up the second hill and crashed into a metal support holding up some safety netting, resulting in the young boy getting decapitated.  

The other two passengers were also injured, with one suffering from a broken jaw and another enduring a facial bone fracture. 

According to court documents, investigators found ‘physical evidence that indicated that other rafts had gone airborne and collided with the overhead hoops and netting before the fatality.’ 

It was also revealed that just a week before the ride opened, an engineering firm hired to test the slide issued a report that ‘guaranteed that rafts would occasionally go airborne in a manner that could severely injure or kill the occupants.’ 

The slide’s designers were indicted on charges of aggravated battery, aggravated endangerment of a child, interference with law enforcement, and involuntary manslaughter. One of them also faced a second-degree murder charge.

A judge dismissed all the charges in 2019, however, ruling that the prosecution ‘abused the grand jury and tainted the indictments,’ per NPR.

The ride was demolished and the park closed in 2018.

A cart derailed on a coaster at Galaxyland in Canada resulting in three deaths

In June 1986, one of the cars on the Mindbender rollercoaster at the West Edmonton Mall in Alberta, Canada, derailed while it was moving at 62mph.

Its wheel became detached from the track and when the car got damaged, the lap bar restraints unlocked and released.

All four passengers riding at the time were thrown to the concrete floor below – three of them died.

The fourth person survived, but shattered his lower legs, crushed half his left shoulder and broke his feet, pelvis, lower back, and every rib on his left side.

The ride reopened the next year with the trains redesigned. It was demolished in 2023 after 37 years to make way for a new ride.

A woman fatally fell from her seat off a rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Texas

Rosy Esparza, 52, died after she fell from the Texas Giant roller coaster at Six Flags Over Texas in July 2013.

An employee told investigators afterwards that her seatbelt was ‘a little high or not as tight as it should be.’

Another said they thought ‘the restraint wasn’t all the way down on her thigh’ but brushed it off because the safety system said the restraint was locked.

They also said the train she was on ‘gave them problems earlier in the week,’ per NBC DFW. 

‘The sensors had not been working properly, and park maintenance came out to fix them,’ the outlet said.

Police ruled it as an accident and said there were no signs of any criminal misconduct.

Six Flags ultimately added extra ‘safety measures’ to the ride including a ‘redesigned lap-bar restraint pads and seat belts.’

A derailment of a rollercoaster at the Battersea Park Funfair in London led to the death of five children

One of the most gruesome theme park tragedies of all time took place at the Battersea Park Funfair in London in 1972.

Five children died and thirteen others were injured when a train on the Big Dipper coaster came off its tracks.

It was going up the hill when it book loose from its haulage rope and as it gained speed it came off the track and crashed. 

‘As soon as we started shooting backwards everything went into slow motion… I turned around and saw the brake man desperately trying to put the brake on but it wasn’t working,’ one of the survivors later recounted to the Independent. 

‘Most of the carriages didn’t go around the bend, one detached and went off the side through a wooden hoarding. 

‘People were groaning and hanging over the edge. It was awful … There was blood everywhere.’

A report found that there were over 50 faults on the ride, and three men involved were charged with manslaughter, however, they were acquitted.