The family of Wongel Estifanos, a six-year-old girl who died in 2021 after falling from an amusement park ride, has been awarded $205 million in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Wongel was visiting Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, with her relatives on September 5, 2021, when she boarded the Haunted Mine Drop, per PEOPLE.
According to the family’s lawsuit: “[Her] uncle eventually took Wongel, two of his own children, his wife and another relative onto the Haunted Mine Drop. When the ride came to stop at the bottom of the mine shaft, Wongel's uncle checked to see whether Wongel had enjoyed the ride."
To his horror, he discovered she was not in her seat. The filing continued: “Wongel had fallen to her death, suffering numerous fractures, brain injuries and internal and external lacerations.
"As Wongel's uncle and other relatives on the ride screamed in horror and tried to get out of the ride to run to Wongel, the ride would not release them, and pulled them 110 feet back up to the top of the mine shaft."
What Investigators Found
A report from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment’s Division of Oil and Public Safety concluded the fatal fall was the result of “multiple operator errors” and “violations of the Colorado Amusement Rides and Devices Regulations, and enforcement will be pursued.”
Investigators stated that Wongel had been sitting on top of her two seatbelts rather than wearing them correctly.
An alarm system initially prevented the ride from launching, but employees who had only been on the job for two months took “several incorrect actions and reset the ride seatbelt monitors which allowed them to dispatch the ride,” according to the findings.
As a result, Wongel was not secured when the Haunted Mine Drop plunged 110 feet, causing her fatal injuries.
Jury Verdict and Damages
The Estifanos family filed their wrongful death lawsuit in 2022, one year after the accident. On September 19, 2024, a jury found both Glenwood Caverns Holdings, the park’s parent company, and Soaring Eagle, the ride’s manufacturer, liable for the child’s death.
The jury awarded $82 million in non-economic damages and $123 million in punitive damages, totaling $205 million, according to The Denver Post.
Glenwood Caverns Responds
Following the verdict, Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park issued a statement: “Our hearts go out to the family of Wongel Estifanos and everyone affected by the tragic accident that happened on September 5, 2021."
The park added that while the jury assigned significant fault to Soaring Eagle, the size of the award “puts the existence of Glenwood Caverns at serious risk. If the jury verdict remains as it is, hundreds of local jobs are in peril.”
The statement further accused the ride’s manufacturer of negligence: “Soaring Eagle certified to Glenwood Caverns that the ride met all applicable standards, but that was not true.
"They failed to perform the required engineering and risk analyses that would have undoubtedly prevented this death. In addition, Soaring Eagle was aware of two prior ejections from this same restraint design—information they hid from the world."
The park said it has since worked with independent engineers to redesign and re-engineer the ride, ensuring “an accident like this [would] never occur again.”
Family Attorney Reacts
Dan Caplis, the attorney representing Wongel’s family, said the legal team is still navigating issues surrounding Soaring Eagle, which no longer exists. “That’s going to be litigated after this trial. So there’s not a clear answer to that at this point," he told KUSA.
He also spoke about the significance of the massive damages awarded: “The whole purpose of the law on punitive damages is ‘Learn the lesson, make the world safer, make sure this never happens again. And that’s been the parents’ quest from day one.”
Caplis added: “Wongel's parents are very grateful to the jury for speaking the truth and holding this corporation responsible,” according to KCNC.