Family awarded $205 million after girl, 6, fell to her death from amusement park ride
The family of a six-year-old girl who died in 2021 after falling from her rollercoaster seat have been awarded $205 million in their wrongful death lawsuit.
Wongel Estifanos fell to her death off a ride at the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, four years ago.
On September 5, Wongel and her family were visiting the park when, according to the family's lawsuit filing, the six-year-old's uncle took her, his children, wife and another relative onto the 'Haunted Mine Drop'.
The complaint, which was obtained by PEOPLE, claims that 'when the ride came to stop at the bottom of the mine shaft, Wongel's uncle checked to see whether Wongel had enjoyed the ride', and to his horror, he saw that she was not in her seat, but at the bottom of the mine shaft.
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It continues: "Wongel had fallen to her death, suffering numerous fractures, brain injuries and internal and external lacerations. As Wongel's uncle and other relatives on the ride screamed in horror and tried to get out of the ride to run to Wongel, the ride would not release them, and pulled them 110 feet back up to the top of the mine shaft."
An investigation into the incident by the Colorado Department of Labour and Employment's Division of Oil and Public Safety found that the incident had occurred as a ‘result of multiple operator errors' and ‘violations of the Colorado Amusement Rides and Devices Regulations, and enforcement will be pursued'.
The investigators said that Wongel had not been properly strapped in, which resulted in her being separated from the ride during its 110ft drop, with it being additionally reported that the employees, who had been hired two months prior, then 'took several incorrect actions and reset the ride seatbelt monitors, which allowed them to dispatch the ride'.
The complaint also referred to a report by Colorado state investigators, which claimed that Wongel was sitting on top of her two seatbelts that were meant to go across her body.
Wongel's family filed their wrongful death lawsuit on September 19, 2022. And a report by the Denver Post noted that the jury found the defendants named in the family’s lawsuit, Glenwood Caverns Holdings, the park’s parent company, and Soaring Eagle, which designed the ride, were liable for $82 million in non-economic damages and $123 million in punitive damages to the Estifanos family.
Speaking to PEOPLE, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park stated the verdict.
It read: “Our hearts go out to the family of Wongel Estifanos and everyone affected by the tragic accident that happened on September 5, 2021.
“While the jury allocated significant fault on the other defendant, Soaring Eagle, Inc., the size of the total jury verdict award puts the existence of Glenwood Caverns at serious risk. If the jury verdict remains as it is, hundreds of local jobs are in peril.”
The park then alleged that Soaring Eagle did not ensure their ride met the applicable standards.
Their statement continued: “Soaring Eagle certified to Glenwood Caverns that the ride met all applicable standards, but that was not true.
"They failed to perform the required engineering and risk analyses that would have undoubtedly prevented this death. In addition, Soaring Eagle was aware of two prior ejections from this same restraint design—information they hid from the world.
"Glenwood Caverns was devastated by this accident and worked with independent engineers (and not with Soaring Eagle) to redesign and re-engineer the ride to prevent an accident like this from ever occurring again."
In 2022, the park announced that multiple changes would be made to the Haunted Mine Drop, as reported by CBS News.
UNILAD has contacted Soaring Eagle for comment.
Gerrard Kaonga