Six Flags shuts roller coasters at six parks after death in Georgia

Six Flags has closed nine roller coasters across six theme parks after one person died and several others were injured on a ride in Georgia on Monday.

Police are investigating circumstances surrounding the incident at Six Flags Over Georgia, said Lisa Cupid, chairwoman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners. Officials did not say how the person died or provide details about those injured.

Attractions similar to the ride in Austell, Georgia, were closed “out of an abundance of caution,” a Six Flags spokesperson said.

Six Flags did not identify the ride involved, but local media reported it was the Goliath roller coaster. A witness told NBC affiliate 11 Alive that a man was “flung from the ride.”

The 200-feet-tall Goliath has been in the park since 2006, described as “an intense 70 mile per hour thrill.”

There have been at least seven reported deaths at Six Flags Over Georgia, including a likely heart attack in 2006, according to the Doan Law Firm, which tallies theme park accidents.

Last month, Six Flags Magic Mountain said it would close the X2 roller coaster amid lawsuits from customers alleging they experienced brain damage from the ride.

Six Flags recently settled a wrongful-death lawsuit from the family of a 22-year-old man who died after riding the coaster in 2022, and three more lawsuits alleging traumatic brain injuries were filed last week.

The ride has been closed since the evening of July 12, after two women who rode the coaster less than a week apart both needed to be rushed to the hospital after they exited.

Her attorneys said more than 100 people have claimed they got brain injuries from the roller coaster in the past two years and that the closure of X2 would not keep them from continuing to file lawsuits. (Source: The Washington Post)