A Whole Lot of Investigations Going on at Wildwood, NJ for the Sea Dragon Wreck

The wreck of the Sea Dragon. It sounds like an old Viking saga. But it’s actually a very recent carnival ride accident. You may have already seen news about the pirate ship ride accident.

The Sea Dragon pirate ship ride is like a big pendulum that swings back and forth while riders enjoy the thrills of weightlessness, acceleration and strong G forces by turns. A big, steel center mast came loose from the pirate ship ride, and toppled over. The fallen center mast sent one teen to the hospital with injuries. The center mast also injured four other victims who apparently did not require hospitalization.

The ride remains closed while all kinds of groups conduct all kinds of inspections and investigations into what caused the accident. Some of the Sea Dragon accident investigations involve:

* The Wildwood, NJ Police Department. (The Sea Dragon pirate ship accident is actually the second major accident at Morey’s Mariner’s Landing Pier this summer. The first involved the fatal fall from a Ferris wheel of an 11-year-old girl on a school trip. This accident was unrelated to the Sea Dragon accident. And some reports suggest that the girl may have been trying to stand up in the ride, and that this may have played a part in the fall.)

* A NJ State agency inspecting the ride for appropriate repairs.

* The NJ Department of Community Affairs making an inspection.

* Morey’s Mariner’s Landing Pier’s own investigation. We’re told that the actual name of the amusement park is Morey’s Piers. Indeed, this name does flow more easily from the tongue than the longer version that one sees everywhere in the news reports of the accident. News reports say that the Wildwood, NJ amusement park’s own investigation will bring in an independent safety consultant and a material-testing inspector to examine the ride.

Only time will tell what all of these investigations will determine caused the Sea Dragon accident. We imagine that there might be some variation among the conclusions drawn by the various parties. We still believe that negligence played a big part in the Sea Dragon pirate ship accident. And we tend to believe that more than one negligent party might have been at fault here.

Chance Rides, the manufacturer of the Sea Dragon pirate ship, had issued a recall (“service bulletin”) on the ride some years back warning of the possibility of just an accident – a falling center mast. We’ve investigated our own share of amusement park ride accidents. In fact, we’ve been looking into such matters on behalf of injured clients for more than a decade. Past experience with amusement park ride accidents leads us to our conclusions. And, of course, you may draw your own conclusions from your own experiences.

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