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Disneyland crash injures four

Four people have been treated for minor injuries after a wagon broke off from a steam engine ride at Disneyland Paris, the theme park and police said on Thursday.

Published: 3 January 2013 15:47 CET

Disneyland crash injures four

Disneyland Paris, photographed last year. Photo: Tomas Samson/AFP

The four, including a pregnant woman and a 13-year-old girl, were taken to hospital after the accident on the five-wagon Disneyland Railroad ride at 8:40pm (1940 GMT) on Wednesday, a police source said.

The source said the accident occurred after a bolt snapped between the first and second wagons of the train, sending the engine and one wagon ahead of the others as they approached the terminal.

The three rear wagons struck the first section when it stopped at the end of the line.

About 40 people were inside the train, which tours the theme park, at the time of the accident.

A spokesman for the Euro Disney company, which operates the park, said the train ride was closed on Thursday and that the incident was minor.

"It was a small nudge," the spokesman said, adding that one wheel of the train had come off the rails.

The spokesman said those injured were out of hospital and had returned home or continued their stay at the theme park.

He said the accident had occurred at a "very slow speed" and said the train normally travelled at eight kilometres per hour (five miles per hour) when it was returning to the station.

Disneyland Paris, which marked its 20th anniversary in 2012, took in a record 16 million visitors last year but continues to report big losses after taking on significant levels of debt.

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Disneyland Paris goes green with ban on plastic straws

Disneyland Paris on Monday announced a series of measures in a bid to become more environmentally friendly. Photo: AFP

The theme park east of the French capital, which draws 15 million visitors a year, is like a small town in its own right, producing 19 tonnes of waste last year.

It currently recycles paper, glass and 18 other types of materials accounting for around half of all its waste, a level it aims to increase to 60 percent in 2020, said Nicole Ouimet-Herter, the park's environment manager.

Starting Thursday it will bin plastic straws, to be replaced with fully biodegradable paper versions that will be distributed only if patrons request them.

The announcement follows a vote last month in the European Parliament to ban single-use plastic products such as straws, cutlery and cotton buds from 2021.

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Disneyland Paris to build Star Wars zone in €2 billion upgrade

It comes as pressure mounts on companies and citizens to wean themselves off the plastics blamed for clogging up oceans.

Disneyland Paris, owned by The Walt Disney Company, also announced several other initiatives to clean up its act.

Next week, shops in the park will stop handing out free plastic bags, offering instead the option of purchasing bags made of 80 percent recycled plastic for €1 or €2.

And starting in June several of the park's hotels will no longer stock bathrooms with small bottles of shower gel or shampoo, replacing them with bigger ones that can be refilled.

Euro Disney, the park's operator, said it was also planning to install solar panels on the sprawling 22-square-kilometre site to get more power from renewables.

Currently, renewable energy sources account for only 10 percent of the electricity used.

“We are undertaking concrete actions to reduce our impact on the environment. But we also have the power to dazzle children and want to have a positive influence on them to encourage them to take care of nature,” said Mireille Smeets, Euro Disney's director of corporate social responsibility.

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