CAP D’AGDE, France, Aug. 10 (UPI) — A cable on a slingshot-style ride at a French amusement park snapped during operation and sent a car containing two passengers crashing into a support.
A video posted to YouTube by spectator Claude Pons at Luna Park in the town of Cap d’Agde shows the “Fifth Element” ride launch on the evening of Aug. 4 and “slingshot” up and down once while two passengers spin inside a ball-shaped car.
One of the bungee cables holding the ball then snaps, causing it to be pulled in the direction of the other cable and crash against one of the ride’s supports.
Pons said in a Facebook post it took about an hour for rescuers to reach the passengers.
A female passenger was treated for a broken leg, while the second passenger, identified as the woman’s boyfriend, suffered only bruises.
Luna Park blamed the accident on a “manufacturing defect” and said an investigation has been opened.
A similar ride malfunction at Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin Dells was caught on camera last month, but there were no injuries from that incident as the passengers had yet to launch.
