conntom said:
This was on wnbc.com
British girl suffers cardiac arrest after riding Tower of Terro
Updated: 5:38 p.m. ET July 12, 2005
MIAMI - A 16-year-old British tourist suffered cardiac arrest Tuesday after riding the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror at Disney World in Florida, a month after a 4-year-old boy died after riding another Disney World attraction.
Leeanne Deacon of Kibworth, England, was rushed to a hospital and into surgery after getting off the ride and telling her mother she did not feel well, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.
She was listed in critical condition at Florida Hospital Celebration Health, near Disney World, said hospital spokeswoman Melanie Trivento, who would not divulge the nature of the ailment due to patient confidentiality rules.
I hope she will be ok
The updated Sentinel article:
UPDATE
Teen hospitalized after riding Tower of Terror
By Willoughby Mariano and Jerry W. Jackson
Sentinel Staff Writers
July 12, 2005, 7:00 PM EDT
A British teen was in critical condition and undergong surgery at Florida Hospital Celebration Health after falling ill this morning at the Twlight Zone Tower of Terror ride at Disney-MGM Studios, authorities said.
Leanne Deacon, 16, of Kibworth, England, was exiting the ride with her mother at 9:50 a.m. when the girl complained she was feeling lightheaded and had a headache. Her mother, noticing the girl was getting more ill, went back inside the attraction to find an air-conditioned spot to sit down, said Orange County Sheriff's office spokesman Jim Solomons.
Disney employees approached the girl and called paramedics because she needed medical attention. Paramedics arrived at 9:57 a.m. to transport her to the hospital. On the way, the teen lost consciousness and heart function, but medical personnel revived her, Solomons said.
Today's incident comes less than a month after a 4-year-old boy from Pennsylvania collapsed on Epcot's Mission: Space ride and later died. The boy, Daudi Bamuwamye, was visiting the park on June 13, and authorities are awaiting results of an autopsy before saying what caused his death.
Walt Disney World released a statement expressing the company's concern for the Deacon family and said it is "working with them to provide whatever assistance they need."
The statement also said the Orange County Sheriff's Office concluded an initial investigation and found no indication of a ride malfunction at the Tower of Terror. The Florida Department of Agriculture Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection has been notified and will monitor the ride safety inspection, the statement said.
Walt Disney World spokesman Bill Warren said Tower of Terror would not reopen tonight and a determination would be made Wednesday morning whether to reopen it after Disney representatives and state inspectors complete their assessment.
"We just want to run it through the paces and test it to make sure it's completely operational," Warren said. An initial check found no indication of a ride malfunction.
Disney and other major parks with 1,000 or more employees are not required by state law to open their rides to state inspectors. The state's 15 ride inspectors focus instead on Florida's 155 smaller amusement parks and more than 222 traveling amusement companies that set up at fairs, carnivals and festivals.
But Disney and other large parks signed an agreement with the state to voluntarily report ride-incidents serious enough to require a hospital visit, and to sign off on annual inspections provided by on-staff or contract engineers and inspectors.
Warren said state inspectors were not asked to check out Mission: Space after the 4-year-old boy's recent death, and it was reopened after Disney engineers declared it safe, but Disney has invited in state inspectors after past accidents. He said the last case that company representatives could recall inviting in state inspectors was in November 2000, when a 37-year-old man climbed out of a Splash Mountain boat and died when he was struck by other boats in the flume ride.
The ride, which opened in 1994, simulates an elevator that goes haywire in an old hotel, shooting toward the top of the tower and then plunging down.
From the time people are seated and secured in the "elevator" the ride lasts about five minutes, about a minute longer than the Mission: Space ride at Epcot.
In September 1998 seven people were treated and released from hospitals after they complained of back and neck pain after one of the elevator ride cars malfunctioned. An inspection at the time by Reedy Creek, Disney's governmental arm, found that two of three bolts that guide the elevator cables broke, allowing the car to drop one floor before an emergency brake stopped the descent.
All of the bolts were replaced on all four elevator cars and inspectors said incident showed that the emergency braking system worked as designed. A redesign in 1999 added different drop sequences, with seven minor and major drops, up from three. The redesign also added a bit more "air time" or the feeling of weightlessness during drops of as much as 13 stories.
