At least 14 people were rushed to hospital on Friday after two trains on a roller coaster at California’s Disneyland theme park collided, a government official with the nearby city of Anaheim said.
But none of the injured was in serious condition following the crash in which one car rear-ended another on the California Screamin’ ride at Disney’s California Adventure park, said city spokesperson John Nicoletti.
A total of 48 people were on the trains at the park, which is part of the Disneyland complex in Orange County, south-east of Los Angeles, Nicoletti told a press conference.
Most of the injured complained of neck and back pain and some were being sent to local hospitals.
”At this point we don’t have a cause … and we have investigators on the scene,” Nicoletti said.
Eighteen ambulances and about 100 firefighters rushed to the park as a precaution.
”Whenever you have two cars like this come in contact with one another, you want to have as many resources on scene as possible,” Nicoletti said, adding that most passengers were able to walk off the roller coaster as the cars came a stop near a flat section of the ride.
California Screamin’, a ride shaped to look like a silhouette of Mickey Mouse’s head, is one of the more popular rides at California Adventure Park, an offshoot of Disneyland that celebrated its 50th birthday less than two weeks ago.
The accident is the latest of several to hit a Disney theme park in recent years.
In September 2003, one man was killed and 10 people injured on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at Disneyland when a car derailed on the brand-new ride. — Sapa-AFP