A 12-year-old boy is paralyzed from the neck down after going on a The Tower of Terror Ride at Disneyland Paris. This is pretty scary, considering the one in Paris is identical to the one in Orlando, Florida. More details after the jump!
Bautista Riera, from Argentina, is in intensive care after riding the amusement park’s Twilight Zone Tower of Terror attraction which simulates a lift plunging 199ft after being hit by lightning.
According to reports, x-rays showed he suffered a ‘spine and bone contusion’.
Bautista reportedly complained to his father, a doctor, that he felt sick shortly after leaving the ride and was taken to the park’s infirmary.His condition rapidly deteriorated and he was taken to Paris’ Necker hospital for children.
By the time he arrived at the hospital’s neurology unit he was already paralysed in his upper limbs.
The paralysis quickly spread to his lower limbs and he suffered respiratory arrest before being rushed to intensive care.
According to a report in the Buenos Aires Herald Bautista suffered spinal cord injuries and is in a serious condition.
His uncle told the paper that the boy’s condition has stabilised although nd he is breathing with the help of an artificial respirator after suffering complications and pneumonia.
Disneyland Paris is Europe’s most popular tourist attraction and the Tower of Terror, which was opened in 2008, is one of its most adrenalin-fuelled rides.Â
On its website the Park states: ‘Prepare yourself for a mind-blowing adrenalin rush The ascent is followed by a dizzying drop faster than the speed of gravity. The abyss awaits you – Drop in if you dare!’
According to Bautista’s family he was in good health and played rugby, basketball and practised martial arts.
A spokesman for Disneyland Paris said the boy had been on three rides at Walt Disney Studios before feeling unwell.
He said: ‘When he was accompanied to the care centre, the child could walk.’
In 2009 a British teenager claimed that going on an almost identical Disney ride at the Florida park had caused her to suffer a heart attack.
In 2005, the then 16-year-old Leanne Deacon’s heart stopped and she suffered a brain haemorrhage after riding the Disney World-MGM Studios’ The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride several times.
A trial is due to start next year.Â
