A 30-year-old ride employee died in an accident in Vienna’s Prater on Tuesday evening. According to police spokesman Markus Dittrich, a gondola from the seasonally imported attraction “Olympialooping” hit the woman. Any help came too late for them.
The day after, Otto Barth, owner of the roller coaster, and the Prater Association expressed their deep concern in a press statement. He was informed by the operations manager around 8:30 p.m. that the woman “went into the system in a dangerous area where she was not allowed to go where it was blocked off and was hit by the train,” said Barth.
View of the Vienna Prater.
– © what / Georg Hochmuth
According to police reports on Wednesday, the 30-year-old was crossing the “Olympia Looping” railway when the accident happened. Despite first aid measures, she died on the spot. The labor inspectorate was informed and a judicial autopsy was suggested.
Operator and Prater Association “stunned”
“Our thoughts are with the bereaved,” said Barth, struggling for composure. Silvia Lang, Vice President of the Vienna Prater Association, also expressed her dismay. Tomorrow’s press conference on the season’s Prater novelties has been canceled for reasons of piety. “Yesterday we immediately put together a crisis team as a contact for the authorities,” reported Lang. “We will work through this accident accordingly and consider an action to process the accident together.” Questions were not answered at the meeting “so as not to anticipate the authorities,” it said.
The attraction with a length of 1,250 meters is the largest transportable roller coaster in the world, as noted on the website olymialooping.de. It impresses not only with its size and its five loops, but also with its first-class driving characteristics and smooth running. The Barth family is one of the most successful showman businesses in Germany. (apa)
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