Teen’s death at ICON Park is second in two years after 21-year-old theme park worker fell 60ft from swing in 2020
ICON Park suffered its second tragedy in two years when a teenager fell off a drop ride to his death.
It came months after worker Jacob Kaminsky fell 60ft in September 2020 while he was working on a swing ride at the tourist attraction.
Kaminsky, 21, was working on the StarFlyer ride at the theme park in September 2020.
The Orlando StarFlyer claims to be the world's tallest swing ride as it stands at 450 feet.
Kaminsky climbed up the tower part of the ride as he carried out a safety check.
The worker and fellow employee Joshua Zier were about to climb down from the ride before tragedy struck, according to the
Roller coaster enthusiast Kaminsky fell backward onto a platform below.
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Paramedics frantically performed CPR and he was taken to a trauma center where he was pronounced dead.
Family friend Cheryl Wessely said: “It was only natural that he landed a job in the field of building them.”
And his mom said: “It is all so sad. Listening to my son talking to Jake’s many friends on the day of his death it was shocking to learn how many lives he had touched.”
She hoped her son “knew how loved he was”.
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Meanwhile, Kaminsky's friend Chris Ross said: “Anything he could do with roller coasters he wanted to do.
“He just loved it.”
The worker reportedly spent hours building toy coasters as a child and loved watching movies about them.
Kaminsky had previously worked on rides at theme parks such as Six Flags Great America in Chicago.
Months later, a 14-year-old boy fell from the Orlando FreeFall ride and died in hospital.
Footage uploaded online shows the employees at the park talking with thrill-seekers before they take off into the air.
THEME PARK TRAGEDY
As the ride starts, one yells: “Hey did you take your seat belt on the left side. Seat belt.”
The riders on board then start rotating up the illuminated column.
They rise hundreds of feet above the ground before plunging at a rapid speed.
identified the young man as Tyre Sampson, who was visiting from his home in .
Montrey Williams told Fox35: "At first we thought it was a piece of the ride or whatever until we got a little closer and it was a person laying on the ground.
"Everyone was just panicking and screaming."
It's not clear how many riders were on the amusement park attraction at the time of Thursday's incident.
The Orlando Free Fall stands at 430 feet and a maximum of 30 thrill-seekers can go on the ride.
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The ride claims to be the world's tallest free-standing drop tower, according to the ICON Park website.
And, it opened on December 28 last year.
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