In the years leading up to this week’s fatal accident at its Georgia theme park, Six Flags has been accused of failing to maintain its parks amid hundreds of reports of injuries and dangerous malfunctions on its aging thrill rides, according to a CNN analysis of public records and court filings.
Six Flags temporarily closed 10 rides in seven states this week after 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem fell to his death and several others were injured while riding the Goliath rollercoaster at Six Flags Over Georgia just outside Atlanta.
In the last five years, safety records covering more than a dozen parks across three different states reveal maintenance issues, such as a train derailment, faulty restraint bars and guest injuries including dislocated joints and concussions.
Six Flags is the country’s largest theme park operator – with 30 water and amusement parks in 13 states. In a statement to CNN, the company said it was “committed to rigorous ride inspection, maintenance and safety procedures that meet or exceed industry standards.”
But Six Flags has struggled financially amid weak attendance and crushing debt following a 2024 merger with competitor Cedar Fair, according to its financial statements from recent years.
Two investor lawsuits filed last year allege that prior to the merger, Six Flags officials had put off basic park maintenance, infrastructure repairs and ride updates as it slashed employee headcount. In investor calls last year cited in the lawsuits, a Six Flags executive described a need to invest in “deferred items” at the amusement parks, while another stated the “list is always long” for needed improvements in response to a question from a financial analyst. Six Flags has not responded to the lawsuits’ claims in court.
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The company “failed to make adequate capital investments to conduct routine facility maintenance or improve rides and attractions, and made drastic personnel cuts,” according to one investor lawsuit. The other alleges Six Flags “had for years deferred or foregone” necessary repairs.
The safety of Six Flags rides had already come under fire this summer, after a CNN investigation exposed how one of its most famous roller coasters, X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, had been linked to more than a dozen serious brain injuries, hospitalizations and even deaths. Officials had kept the ride open for nearly two decades despite a long history of problems. But last month, the company closed it permanently after CNN reported that two women had been rushed into emergency brain surgery six days apart in July and more than 100 injured riders came forward with brain injury claims.
This week’s fatal accident in Georgia comes less than two weeks after the high-profile closure of X2, which officials attributed to a loss of guest confidence in the ride. The president of Six Flags over Georgia said in a statement that the park has “a comprehensive safety program built on rigorous inspections” for each ride and is cooperating with state investigators while also conducting its own review of the incident.
Six Flags did not comment on the injuries reported to various state regulators but said all reported guest injuries are “taken seriously” and reviewed. Officials also said that the incidents reviewed by CNN “span multiple parks, attractions, years, jurisdictions and circumstances, and may reflect differing state reporting requirements and a wide range of incidents and outcomes. As a result, broad conclusions drawn from a compilation of reports may not provide the full context surrounding any individual event or our overall approach to safety.”
Records reveal mechanical failures, faulty restraints and broken bones at Six Flags parks
Records reveal mechanical failures, faulty restraints and broken bones at Six Flags parks
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Theme park-related accidents remain rare, with an industry report showing roughly 1,500 injuries in 2024. Most of these were classified as related to guest behavior or medical conditions, and roughly 25 percent were caused by technical or operational issues, such as mechanical problems with a ride or operator error.
“There is always the possibility of mechanical failure in spite of following all the standards and other specific procedures developed by manufacturers and operators,” Edward Pribonic, an amusement ride engineer and ride safety expert who has served as an expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs suing Six Flags, said in an email. “However, recurring safety incidents and mechanical failures usually point to a lack of attention to standards and manufacturer’s requirements for whatever reasons.” Typically, these reasons are budget contraints or “incompetence,” he said.
In California, state law requires operators to report accidents “where maintenance, operation, or use of the permanent amusement ride results in a death or serious injury to any person unless the injury does not require medical service other than ordinary first aid.”
Since 2021, regulators in the state have fielded nearly 300 accident reports from Six Flags parks. The details about each incident were limited and some could involve other factors such as heat or underlying medical conditions. Issues documented included chemical burns and hydraulic fluid that leaked from a ride into someone’s eye, dislocated joints, concussions and broken bones.
Across the country at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey, state records showed similar injuries and malfunctions. For instance, park officials reported a 2024 train derailment due to an equipment failure that caused minor injuries and repeated instances of lap bars opening mid-ride – sometimes due to broken bolts. Riders had to evacuate its log ride on seven separate occasions because of issues such as boats colliding or becoming jammed and smoke coming from a malfunctioning part of the ride. And a child was transported for medical treatment after hitting his head multiple times on a roller coaster’s restraint bar.
A wooden roller coaster, which is called El Toro and goes up to 70 miles per hour with a steep 176-foot drop, has been the subject of repeated safety reports and ongoing lawsuits in the past five years. In August of 2022, for example, more than a dozen people were injured after experiencing a violent jolt during the ride, according to court filings and state records reviewed by CNN. A month later, the state deemed the ride “structurally compromised” and the ride remained closed until June 2023, according to the legal complaint.
In Texas, many injury reports made to state regulators involved water park attractions, such as incidents in which riders were thrown from inner tubes, resulting in head injuries and other trauma. Other reports detail an 8-year-old breaking his arm after his legs got caught in the seat of a children’s ride, a 21-year-old who couldn’t move after riding on a roller coaster because of a back injury and a 37-year-old man who felt his neck “pop” after riding a different attraction and reported his hands going numb and almost fainting.
One guest at Six Flags Over Texas died more than a decade ago under circumstances similar to this week’s tragedy in Georgia. In that case, which also received national attention, Rosa Esparza, 52, died after being ejected from the Texas Giant roller coaster.
Witnesses reported hearing a popping sound before Esparza went flying, and employees told police investigators that maintenance had fixed faulty sensors on the ride a few days prior. Police also heard from a man who claimed he had been injured on the same ride eight years earlier “when the safety bar didn’t properly hold me down” and a woman whose daughter had recorded the ride malfunctioning a week before Esparza’s death, with video showing the restraint bar spontaneously opening up before the ride left the station, records show.
In a statement at the time, Six Flags said an investigation had revealed that there had been no mechanical failure on the ride. The roller coaster reopened two months after Esparza’s death with a number of new safety measures, including a newly designed T-bar restraint and seat belts.
CNN has requested data from other states where Six Flags operates, including Georgia, but officials have not yet responded.
Do you have information to share about a Six Flags theme park or ride? Email us at melanie.hicken@cnn.com or blake.ellis@cnn.com.