Sentosa ride shut for 90 minutes

A Universal Studios roller coaster was closed for 90 minutes yesterday, after a woman in her 40s got off the ride with a cut above her left eyebrow.

Resorts World Sentosa spokesman Robin Goh said that, at about 12pm yesterday, a park guest received a 0.6cm cut after riding the Battlestar Galactica's "Human" roller coaster.

A Singapore Civil Defence Force spokesman said that it received a call at 12.15pm that a Chinese woman had been injured at the Sentosa integrated resort. She was later sent to the Singapore General Hospital.

Mr Goh said the woman was discharged at 3pm and did not require stitches.

The Building and Construction Authority was informed of the incident and instructed Universal Studios to shut down the ride immediately for investigations, in the interest of public safety.

After confirming that there were no abnormalities in the operation of the ride and its mechanical system, the ride was allowed to re-open at about 1.30pm.

When my paper visited the theme park at about 3pm yesterday, there was a steady stream of park visitors taking the Human ride.

Many visitors were unaware of the shutdown and, when told of the incident, most were unperturbed.

Said polytechnic student Japheth Enver, 18: "If (the incident) was really that serious, they would close it. I think it's safe to go on the ride."

However, others, like Malaysian tourist Hidayah Ghulam, 25, had second thoughts about taking the ride. "I'm concerned as it's to do with our safety."

nggwen@sph.com.sg

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