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Sweden: Roller coaster car derails at theme park

June 25, 2023

Swedish media report that one person died in the crash, police say several were injured after a part of a roller coaster derailed at the Grona Lund amusement park in Stockholm.

https://p.dw.com/p/4T2QV
Police cordon off the Gröna Lund amusement park in Stockholm, Sunday, June 25, 2023.
Police, firefighters and medics all converged on the scene and the park was emptied so that they could workImage: Claudio Bresciani/AP/picture alliance

Several people were injured and one reportedly killed on Sunday in the Swedish capital when part of a rollercoaster train derailed and got stuck, with some people subsequently falling from it.

Swedish police said that nine people were taken to a hospital, and three of them were seriously hurt.

Stockholm's regional authority later said that three children were in hospital among those nine wounded, but with only minor injuries.

What we know about the roller coaster crash

Swedish public broadcaster SVT and news agency TT both cited the Grona Lund amusement park's spokeswoman as saying that one person had also died in the crash. 

"It is incredibly tragic and shocking," park spokeswoman Annika Troselius told SVT. "Unfortunately we have been informed that one person is killed and many are injured." 

Neither Swedish police nor Stockholm authorities immediately confirmed the death. 

First video footage from the scene soon after the crash seemed to show most cars of the train still on the roller coaster tracks and even one adult male sitting on a metal pillar that was part of the ride's structure several meters off the ground, apparently awaiting rescue. 

Eyewitnesses told Swedish media that part of the train had derailed. Other passengers were stuck in their seats on the ride and had to wait to be extracted.

People ride the roller coaster Jetline at Grona Lund amusement park in Stockholm, Sweden, April 22, 2014.
People at least 140 centimeters tall (roughly 4 foot 6 inches) are permitted to ride the Jetline rollercoaster Image: via REUTERS

The steel-tracked Jetline roller coaster reaches speeds of up to 90 kilometers per hour (56 mph) and a height of 30 meters (almost 100 feet), according to information on the Grona Lund website. More than 1 million people ride it each year.

msh/dj (dpa, Reuters)