Japan: World's fastest roller coaster Do-Dodonpa shuts down after spate of injuries

Do-Dodonpa, a steel roller coaster located at Fuji-Q Highland in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan has been shut until further notice after several passengers sustained serious injuries during the ride. However, the prefectural government is yet to discover the specific reason for such damages that causes long-lasting injures to the travellers. According to a report by Mainichi Shimbun, four people have broken bones between December 2020 and August 2021. However, the tally varies from one media organisation to the others. According to reports by Vice, they claimed at least six passengers received serious injuries during the ride. Quoting Fuji-Q spokesperson, the Vice said, "Of the six, four of them had suffered severe neck or back injuries."

Fastest rollercoaster closes down after several fatal injuries: Fuji-Q spokesperson

Further, the spokesperson said that those injured were in their 30s to 50s and required at least a month to recover fully. In some cases, the recovery takes up to three months, noted the Fuji-Q spokesperson. As per S&S – Sansei Technologies, which is responsible for manufacturing the deadly machine, the world's fastest rollercoaster attains the speed of 112 miles per hour in less than two seconds. This gives the ride an acceleration of 32 metres per second (6,300 ft/s/min), and up to 3.3 g. However, he also underlined that the injury during the ride is very rare-- one in 17 million-- since it was launched in early 2001. 

182 accident events were reported so far: Report

According to a report published in the Safety Science 2019, 182 accident events were reported on the launch day of the ride, relating to people from 38 countries, of which 51 events involved a fatality. Roller coasters and mechanical rides were involved in 87 such events. "The most common event type with fixed-site and mobile rides was ride malfunction (63 cases). In waterparks, drowning or near-miss of drowning was the most common (27 incidents). Just 11 reports involved improper rider action, 12 involved failure of reasonable action, and 11 involved medical conditions or reactions," read the Safety Science report. According to the local authorities, the world's fastest rollercoaster will be closed until the manufacturers properly examine the reason behind such injuries. As per the initial report submitted by the manufacturer, the rollercoaster showed no signs of malformation and is working as it should.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)