Silver Dollar City: 7 injured at Missouri theme park after train derailment

CNN
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Several people were injured Wednesday at an amusement park in Branson, Mo., after sections of a train ride derailed from the tracks, the park said.

Six guests and one employee were transported by ambulance to receive medical attention, the Silver Dollar City theme park said in A declaration on Twitter. The park did not specify the extent of the injuries.

« Paramedics on scene provided emergency care until first responders arrived, » the park said.

The Frisco Silver Dollar Line steam train takes guests on a scenic 20-minute ride through the countryside, interrupted by a theatrical « heist » by a gang of train robbers, the park’s website says. The carousel is presented as a must in the park which has been in operation since 1962.

Gary Eldridge and his family came to Silver Dollar City for the Pumpkin Festival and were riding the last car of the train when it derailed, he told CNN.

“We had just passed the part of the ride where they gave the moonshine skit,” Eldridge said. « We took the next bend and the car in front of me acted like it had hit a bump and started shaking really badly. It derailed and took the cars ahead of it with it.

A video he took of the overturned train shows several bright red carriages flipped onto their sides, some with their wheels detached and sitting on the track.

Eldridge’s family was in a car that did not tip over and were not injured, he said.

“At this time, we are wholeheartedly focused on supporting guests and crew members in partnership with Stone County first responders,” the park statement read.

Silver Dollar City has not commented on a possible cause of the accident.

A dispatcher with the Stone County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment Wednesday.