Visitors take roller coaster at Happy Valley theme park in the city of Shenzhen in South China’s Guangdong Province on March 8, 2023. Photo: from IC.

According to a statement issued by the Shenzhen Municipal People's Government on Monday, nine public officials have been held accountable for a roller coaster collision that injured 28 people in South China's Shenzhen, which caused direct economic loss of 3.97 million yuan ($560,000).

The accident investigation team also made recommendations for the handling of 12 responsible individuals and relevant responsible units, with three individuals recommended for transfer to prosecutorial authorities.

On October 27, 2023, a collision occurred on the "Snow Eagle" catapult roller coaster, a rise at the Happy Valley scenic area in Shenzhen. It resulted in 28 people being hospitalized, including three seriously injured, seven with moderate injuries, 11 with minor injuries, and seven who only required minimal medical attention.

The Guangdong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government, the State Administration for Market Regulation, and the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government immediately formed a response team. They demanded the proper treatment of the injured, the identification of the causes, drawing lessons from it, comprehensively identifying hidden dangers, ensuring the safety of recreational facilities, and overall public safety.

The Shenzhen government dispatched investigators to identify the cause of the collision.

The accident investigation team drew personnel from 12 departments and units, including the Municipal Bureau of Justice, Municipal Public Security Bureau, and Municipal Quality and Safety Inspection and Testing Research Institute, etc. At the same time, five domestic experts from the theme park and recreation sector were invited to form an expert group to participate in a technical investigation.

The investigation report detailed that at the time of the collision, the rear bolt of the No.1 eddy current brake plate in the accident equipment launch area had a fatigue fracture, causing the eddy current brake plate to have significant lateral displacement during lifting. This further increased the displacement when it scraped against the permanent magnet of the forward-moving car. Due to the failure of the No. 1 car to cross the highest point of the track, it slid back under the influence of gravity. The bottom permanent magnet of the car collided with the No.1 eddy current brake plate and subsequently scraped against other eddy current brake plates, resulting in complete destruction of the permanent magnet of the car and the failure of the braking function. The No. 1 car continued to retreat and collided with the No. 2 car on the platform behind, causing the collision.

The accident investigation team put forward recommendations for 12 responsible individuals and relevant responsible units. Among them, three individuals, namely Luo from Shenzhen Happy Valley, Liu from the Equipment Department Maintenance Room, and Zhou as the technical leader of Runchang Company, have been transferred to judicial authorities for further action.

The investigation team believes that the collision at Happy Valley exposed issues such as inadequate implementation of the main responsibilities of relevant production and operation units, poor safety management, ineffective risk prevention and control, inaccurate reporting of accident information, inadequate inspection and management of hidden dangers by relevant government departments, and untimely information release.

In response to these issues, the investigation team has proposed five recommendations for accident prevention and rectification measures, including strengthening the implementation of corporate responsibilities and enhancing the intrinsic safety of equipment, learning from the lessons of the accident and strictly fulfilling regulatory responsibilities, and carrying out extensive publicity and education to enhance safety awareness.

Shenzhen Happy Valley released a statement on Monday stating that it will resolutely implement the issues reflected in the rectification of the accident, fulfill the main responsibility for safety production, ensure that safety hazards are rectified, invite industry professional organizations to conduct inspections and testing on each amusement device, effectively improve equipment safety, optimize emergency plans, comprehensively enhance safety risk prevention awareness and emergency response capabilities, and seriously deal with responsible individuals, strengthen responsibility and discipline, and strictly prevent the recurrence of similar incidents.