The victim, who is from Missouri, was on vacation with the family of one of his friends, and according to the newspaper “The Daily Mail” Tyre Sampson was killed after he slipped from his seat on the “Orlando Free Fall” flight at about 11 pm, where he was on vacation with the family of his friend who They were helplessly watching as he tumbled to the ground as the game descended at 75 miles per hour, area police said at a news conference Friday.
A picture taken, before boarding the game, showed the victim sitting with his belt untucked and not pulled down into his seat.
But it was “unclear whether the belt was fully closed before the flight took off in the air, or whether the flight operator checked this to ensure it was safely attached,” the Daily Mail said.
At a press conference, the security official for Orange County, Florida, John Mina, gave details of the incident, saying: The boy, Sampson, from Missouri, was on a visit to Orlando with a friend’s family.
The police chief added, “The accident was horrific, as Sampson fell from the Orlando Free Fall attraction, which began operating last December.”
Local media posted videos circulating on social networks where they hear attraction passengers talking about seat safety, after which the machine starts moving people up.
John Stein, director of sales and marketing for Slingshot Group, the company that owns the attraction, regretted the event and indicated that they were cooperating with the authorities.
According to the park’s website, the tower is 430 feet (131 meters) tall and accommodates 30 passengers and as it rises in the air it rotates around the tower and then tilts to face the ground before free-falling at a speed of more than 75 miles per hour.
During its construction the Orlando Free Fall was described as the tallest free-standing “drop tower” in the world.