UK newsPhotos could offer death plunge clue
Photographs of the white knuckle ride from which a teenage girl fell 30 metres (100ft) to her death earlier this week may hold the key to how the accident happened.
Hayley Liane Williams, 16, from Pontypool, died after she fell from the highest point of the Hydro ride at Oakwood Leisure Park in Pembrokeshire into the splash pool below.
Dyfed Powys police and the Health and Safety Executive are jointly investigating the incident.
But the mother of a boy who received a head injury in the accident said that souvenir photographs taken of passing rides might offer a clue to how the teenager fell.
Sian Powell, mother of Martin Rothwell, 10, from Swansea, who survived a fall from the ride, said: "There are photographs taken as you go round on the ride which you can buy afterwards, so perhaps they will help the police shed some light on what happened."
An American woman died on an almost identical ride, which was made by the same Swiss manufacturer, at a theme park in California.
Lori Mason Larez, 40, slipped from both the seatbelt and the lap bar on the Perilous Plunge ride in September 2001.
An inquiry concluded that weight was a factor, and ride engineers speculated that safety problems could arise in respect of very small and very large people.
Hayley has been described by friends as "slight" .
It is not known whether Hayley was wearing one of the ride's aeroplane-style safety belts at the time of the accident.
But managers of the leisure park insisted yesterday that the rides were tested every day.
John Doona, the operations manager at Oakwood, said: "All of Oakwood's rides are subject to rigorous daily testing and are certified by independent safety consultants on an annual basis."
Engineers from Intamin AG, the Swiss maker of both rides, were on their way to Britain yesterday and are expected to arrive at the park this weekend.
Martin Rothwell was sitting in front of Hayley when the carriage reached the apex of the Hydro ride, which is thought to be the first of its kind to incorporate an 85 degree descent.
He is thought to have been struck by her and then to have fallen to ground level. He was treated for slight head injuries.
Mike Coady, headteacher of St Albans RC school in Pontypool, where Hayley was a pupil, said she was a talented student and "an absolutely lovely girl".
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