All of the deadly incidents that happened at the world's most dangerous theme park
Tragedies occurring at theme parks are unfortunately not an uncommon occurrence, with reports of injuries and fatal accidents to visitors hitting the headlines every now and again.
However there's one amusement park in America which became so notorious for its fatality rates that ended up being the topic of a damning HBO documentary.
Titled Class Action Park, the programme detailed the horrors which took place within the grounds of New Jersey's Action Park.
Watch the damning trailer below:
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Released back in 2020, Class Action Park goes into depth on the numerous safety failures at the park, with one of people calling the place a 'true crime story'.
Alongside constant reports of injuries taking place there were also numerous fatalities, with visitors ending up electrocuted, decapitated or suffering a heart attack.
Here is a list of the six confirmed fatalities which can be directly linked to Action Park:
George Larsson, Jr.
The first death to occur at Action Park was that of George Larsson Jr's with the 19-year-old tragically losing his life on 8 July 1980, just two years after the park opened its doors.
Larsson had been riding down the park's Alpine Slide, which was a 2,700-foot-long track made up of concrete, fiberglass and asbestos.
Visitors would slide down the track on small sleds fitted with a brake to control their speed.
The teenager had been sliding down when his sled tragically jumped the track, causing him to fly off and hit his head on a rock. He would die in hospital on 16 July.
Jeffrey Nathan
27-year-old New Jersey native Jeffrey Nathan had stepped out of his boat after it tipped while on the Kayak Experience in order to re-steady it.
However, upon leaving the boat Nathan stepped onto a grate that was in contact with exposed live wiring, causing him to suffer a severe electric shock. Nathan would later die in hospital from complications of a cardiac arrest caused by the shock.
Two of his relatives stood nearby were also injured in the accident.
Tarzan Swing death
According to the HBO documentary, one visitor also died from a heart attack unofficially thought to be caused by shock in 1984.
They had plunged into the freezing cold water which was reportedly around 10–16 °C (50–60 °F) in temperature, which is below the range of that found in a typical swimming pool.
Tidal Wave Pool deaths
Shockingly three of the six direct deaths at Action Park came from the same attraction, the Tidal Wave Pool.
The first victim was 15-year-old George Lopez, who drowned in the pool on 24 July 1982.
20-year-old Donald DePass would be the pool's second drowning victim in August 1984, followed by 18-year-old Gregory Grandchamps in July 1987.
The absurdity of the park allowing three deaths to take place in the same attraction is summed up in the documentary, with one person saying: "Nobody should be the second person to die in a wave pool. Close the f**king wave pool."
The documentary claims there was 110 injuries in just one year at the park - including 45 head injuries, with the availability of alcohol on-site credited with contributing to these numbers.
Brenna Cooper