A Six Flags rollercoaster that has been linked to two deaths and numerous injuries over the past 24 years has been shut down, after two riders suffered catastrophic injuries and needed emergency brain surgery in incidents just days apart this summer, a report said.
Officials at the Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California, finally took action to close the troubled, 24-year-old X2 coaster after the pair of latest terrifying incidents last month in which riders were injured, according to a new investigation by CNN.
The first mishap occurred on July 5, when Pamela Guillen, 40, of Hawaii, took the ride while visiting the park for her daughter’s 16th birthday and repeatedly struck her head against the headrest as the coaster careened at up to 80 mph, according to ambulance records cited by CNN.
After the end of the ride — which has seats that rotate 360 — she began vomiting and later lost consciousness before being rushed to a nearby hospital.
Part of her skull was removed to reduce brain swelling, and she didn’t fully regain consciousness for about two weeks, according to the CNN investigation.
Just six days later, Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, lost consciousness after riding X2 with her siblings and had to be rushed into emergency brain surgery, CNN reported.
She remains in a coma on a ventilator.
X2 was shut to the public on July 12 following Greer-Wilkinson’s injury, and “the ride remains closed at this time,” a park spokesperson told The Post. They didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about deaths linked to the ride.
Families of both women injured in July said they reportedly were offered food by a Six Flags representative, including from McDonald’s, but otherwise have heard nothing further from the company.
It isn’t the first time the controversial coaster has been in the headlines.
In June 2022, 22-year-old Christopher Hawley collapsed and lost consciousness shortly after riding X2 with his brother and cousin.
He died from a traumatic brain injury the following day, with a surgeon describing damage akin to shaken baby syndrome in the skull of the San Diego State University graduate.
Hawley’s death was ruled an accident caused by blunt head trauma from a park ride by the Los Angeles County medical examiner.
His family sued Six Flags in 2023, and the case was set for trial in September before reportedly being settled for an undisclosed amount, CNN reported, citing court records.
At least 70 complaints of head or neck injuries connected to X2 were made in the three years before Hawley’s death, according to an expert retained by the family who cited internal Six Flags records.
Back in 2010, Hilda Farias, 28, also died after riding X2, although medical experts at the time put her death down to multiple factors, including an existing brain abnormality that may have ruptured due to the ride’s intensity.
Her family also later settled a separate lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, CNN reported.
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