The fall of a tree on a Port Aventura attraction leaves 14 injured, two of them critical

The fall of a tree on a children's roller coaster at the Port Aventura amusement park in Vila-seca (Tarragona) left 14 people injured this Sunday, two of them in critical condition. The accident occurred at 11:25 a.m., when due to the strong wind storm that hit the south of Catalonia this weekend, a tree fell and some of its branches impacted the people who were on the carriages at that time. of an attraction called Tomahawk. The two injured in critical condition are adults, and among the injured there are two minors whose condition is not serious, according to sources from the Medical Emergency System (SEM) of the Generalitat.

The popular amusement park on the Costa Daurada has issued a statement in which it assures that the tree was “close” to the roller coaster, but has indicated that the “fortuitous incident” is “completely unrelated to the operation and maintenance” of the roller coaster. the attractions, which “meet the highest safety standards and are subject to daily inspections.” Regarding the mechanics of the accident, the park maintains that “some of the branches have impacted the customers who were on the attraction.” The same sources maintain that the attraction train “has not derailed” at any time nor has there been “any incident related to the operation of the attraction itself.”

When consulted by this newspaper, a spokesperson for Port Aventura assured that the park had taken measures against the episode of strong winds – which the Generalitat had warned about – and that some of the largest attractions and roller coasters, the park's hallmark, (he Hurricane Condor, he Shambhala or the Red Force, of Ferrari Land) had already been closed to the public.

Access to Tomahawk, However, it had remained open because it is a “soft” category attraction, according to the same spokesperson. It is a children's wooden roller coaster that was inaugurated in March 1997 and is located very close to the popular Stampida. It is located in the Far West area – which evokes the way of life in the Far West – and is intended for a children's audience: the minimum height to climb the attraction is 1.05 meters, and the maximum is 1.85. After the accident, the park closed it.

The Catalan Government has activated the alert of the special Ventcat plan this weekend due to the forecast of strong winds, which have been deployed with intensity especially in the southern half of Catalonia, where Port Aventura is located. The winds have reached gusts of up to 108 kilometers per hour in Montroig del Camp (20 kilometers from the amusement park) and more than 100 kilometers in other towns in the Tarragona region. After noon, the Generalitat ended the Ventcat alert, but maintained the pre-alert. The accident, as various sources have explained to this newspaper, occurred around eleven o'clock.

Port Aventura, whose facilities remain open, assures that its first aid personnel have attended to the first victims in collaboration with the Medical Emergency System (SEM) of the Generalitat. After being informed of the incident, the SEM mobilized eight ambulances and a medical helicopter, which treated a total of 14 people. Two of them (adults), as confirmed by this organization, are in critical condition and have been transferred, one to the Bellvitge hospital (L'Hospitalet) and the other to the Joan XXIII hospital (Tarragona). Nine have been treated in the same park and three (among whom was a minor) have been transferred to hospitals in the province of Tarragona. According to the park itself, one of those taken to the hospital was discharged this Sunday afternoon.

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