Girl's death at US theme park due to 'seat belt issues, inadequate staff training'

Wongel Estifanos was on vacation with her family at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park on September 5 when the fatal incident. Photo / GoFundMe

A 6-year-old who died on a free-fall ride at a US amusement park because she wasn't buckled in properly, a report has concluded.

Wongel Estifanos was on vacation with her family at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado on September 5, when the tragic incident happened.

The youngster hoped on the Haunted Mine Drop ride, similar to Rainbow's End's fear fall.

The ride carries six passengrs at a time and drops 33m into a shaft in the ground, the report said.

Each passenger is meant to wear two seat belts, but "when Estifanos, a 6-year old girl, sat down on the ride, operators did not notice she was sitting on top of both seat belts," the report read.

The control system alerted the operators to the seat belt issues, preventing the ride from dispatching.

However, because neither of the operators were adequately trained, they continued to incorrectly fasten her seat belt before launching the ride.

Wongel Estifanos was on vacation with her family at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park on September 5 when the fatal incident. Photo / GoFundMe

"Because Estifanos was not restrained in the seat she became separated from her seat and fell to the bottom of the (Haunted Mine Drop) shaft, resulting in her death," the report said.

"Having multiple operators making decisions and participating at different steps within the ride cycle was unusual and took the focus away from passenger safety."

One of the operators was hired on July 9. They only received a low level of training on August 5, a month before the incident.

The Haunted Mine Drop is shown in this July 2017 file photo at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Photo / CNN

The other was employed on August 21 and received one training day before being allowed to operate the rides.

The park has been operating for 15 years and the Haunted Mine Drop opened in 2017.

The ride is billed as the world's first drop ride to go underground, according to the park website.

Steve Beckley, the founder of the park, said in a written statement that the owners, management, and park itself were "heartbroken" by the accident.

"There is no way we can imagine the pain of loss that the Estifanos family and their friends are experiencing," Beckley's statement read.

"Safety is, and always has been, our top priority.

"Since opening our first ride just over 15 years ago, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park has delivered more than 10 million safe and enjoyable rides."

The ride drops 33m and goes underground.

Authorities say the girl's parents are hopig others can come forward who may have seen similar incidents at the park.

They hope to do everything they can to make sure no one ever dies this way again, their atorney said.

In one prevous incident i 2019, a person said they were sitting on the seat belts when they were a passenger on the Haunted Mine Drop.

After telling the operator they were not buckled in, the operator argued with the patron.

Eventually, after arguing with the operator that they were not properly buckled in, the issue was fixed, the report said.