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One dead, seven hurt as rollercoaster derails in Sweden

A rollercoaster derailed at a Swedish theme park on Sunday, killing one person and injuring seven, police and the park in Stockholm said.

Published: 25 June 2023 17:37 CEST

The Grona Lund amusement park is pictured in 2020.

The Grona Lund amusement park is pictured in 2020. One of the carriages of the park's Jetline rollercoaster derailed on Sunday, killing one person and injuring seven. Photo: Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

A carriage of the Jetline rollercoaster broke away and fell from a great height, taking several people with it, according to a correspondent for Swedish television SVT at the Gröna Lund theme park.

The ride, launched in 1988, travels at around 90 kph (56 mph).

“One person unfortunately died,” Gröna Lund spokeswoman Cecilia Björling told AFP.

Stockholm police confirmed that seven people were injured and taken to hospital.

The injuries were caused by falls, said Stockholm police spokeswoman Helena Boström Thomas.

“We received the alert at around 11:39 am (09:39 GMT), a rollercoaster had derailed and several people were injured,” Håkan Eriksson of the Swedish capital’s emergency services told AFP.

The park was evacuated and police and ambulances were sent to the scene.

“I suddenly heard a metallic thud and then the rides started to shake,” correspondent Jenny Lagerstedt told SVT.

“My husband, who was sitting outside, saw a car detach and fall.”

Culture Minister Parisa Liljestrand told the TT news agency: “I recently visited the park with my family and I can’t even imagine how it must feel when the most beautiful day suddenly turns into a nightmare”.

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Stockholm theme park closes Jetline ride for good after deadly accident

“With respect for the accident and everyone involved, we’ve decided to close Jetline for good,” Eriksson told a press conference.

The park was heavily criticised in a new report from Sweden’s Accident Investigation Authority (SHK), for among other things not checking the ride sufficiently when it was delivered from the manufacturers in 2019.

“We have fully assisted SHK’s investigation and welcome their final report,” Eriksson said. “It’s important for those affected and their families, and for us at Gröna Lund.”

“Something like this has never happened at Gröna Lund and it will never happen again,” he added.

The accident last summer was caused by a faulty support arm on the rollercoaster, which the manufacturer had ordered from a subcontractor without the park’s knowledge. The subcontractor made a number of errors in production, including welding errors carried out by a worker who lacked formal welding qualifications.

SHK argues that Gröna Lund did not set clear enough requirements when ordering the rollercoaster and should have checked it more closely when it arrived.

“I can’t answer exactly how the manufacturer has misunderstood our design, it’s better to put that question to them,” Eriksson said.

“But in light of the accident we can see that we should have been present to a much greater degree during the entire manufacturing process in order to minimise the risk of those faults appearing.”

He added that the park would be carrying out all of SHK’s recommendations in light of the accident, with some measures involving orders and reserve parts already in place.

“We’ve been working intensively since the accident to ensure our routines and way of working on all attractions is up to scratch,” he said. “With the knowledge we have from this accident, we feel safe opening the park.”

Three companies, including Gröna Lund, are also suspected of three crimes: grovt vållande till annans död, grovt vållande till kroppsskada and framkallande av fara för annan, which translate roughly as aggravated involuntary manslaughter, aggravated causing of bodily harm and causing danger to others.

“We’ve been notified that we are suspected of a crime and have been appointed a defence lawyer, but the investigation is still ongoing and we have not yet been asked to comment on the suspicions against us,” Eriksson said.

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