Six children shocked at amusement park in Connecticut
NEW LONDON, CT -- Six children were shocked on an amusement park ride in Connecticut Tuesday, authorities said, marking the latest in a string of serious incidents at summer attractions.
Police responded to a report of a small child who may have been shocked on one of the rides at Ocean Beach Park in New London just before 2 p.m. When they arrived, police said, they found six victims who had suffered an electric shock.
"Emergency services transported several children to the local hospital, received some type of electrical shock. The most serious injured had some small burns on the palms of his hands from when he touched the metal railing when he was getting off the ride," New London Deputy Police Chief Peter Reichard told ABC New Haven affiliate WTNH-TV.
The ride remains closed while an investigation is ongoing. Officials have yet to determine what caused the electrical surge, police said.
"You'll see the lights going on and off at different rides behind us because they're trying to isolate where the electric surge is coming from," Reichard WTNH at the scene.
Ocean Beach Park's management issued the following statement:
"The safety of our guests is always our number one priority. The Connecticut State Police had been here all afternoon along with local police and the Fire Marshal's office. We will continue to work closely to find out the answer."
In other cases this summer, a 3-year-old boy was airlifted to a hospital last week after he was wounded while riding a wooden roller coaster in Pennsylvania. In Tennessee, three girls were injured after falling 35 to 45 feet to the ground when their Ferris wheel cabin tipped over on Aug. 8. And in Kansas, 10-year-old Caleb Schwab was killed on a waterslide Aug. 7.
ABC News' Erin Donovan and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
AMUSEMENT RIDE SAFETY
Are you taking your children to splash and amusement parks? You can investigate if the rides at those parks are safe, inspected and insured.
There are two steps:
Searching the list kept by the Texas Department of Insurance of inspected rides, which is updated monthly. Nearly every single ride in Texas is on the list.
Also, there is a sticker on each ride that's been inspected. Give it a check when you are at the park. It has lots of info, included when the inspection took place.
The sticker should look like this.
Keep in mind that not every ride needs to be inspected. Most slides are, for example. But inflated tubes on a 'lazy river' are not.
In addition, here is a website devoted to roller coasters throughout the world.
It doesn't include safety information, but it shows how tall the coaster is, how fast it goes, if it's made of wood or steel and if it's appropriate for young kids, families or if it's a 'thrill' or 'extreme' ride. It give you more information to make sure you choose the right ride for you and your family.
