US5 min(s) read
Victims pictured as Six Flags rollercoaster is shut down after two people die and others need emergency brain surgery
The victims of Six Flags roller coaster X2 have been pictured for the first time, following two deaths and several serious injuries.
First opened in 2001, the popular attraction has finally been shut down following several warnings from experts, with X2 remaining shut since July 12 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, California.
Officials confirmed this to be the case after the latest incident, when Hawaii resident Pamela Guillen, 40, and Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, both required emergency brain surgery after going on the coaster in July, as per CNN.
The latter remains in a coma on a ventilator, as a Six Flags spokesperson confirmed: "The ride remains closed at this time."
Doctors have been treating the two women, who hadn't been involved in a crash, fall, or similar.
The severe injuries are similar to those doctors encounter in patients after they've been in high-speed collisions or violent accidents where the brain can twist and slam in someone's skull.
Photos of victims revealed
While the ride is popular among visitors, X2 has been linked to over a dozen reports of serious injuries over the course of its lifetime.
Riders have been left in comas, with life-altering disabilities, and even two who sadly died.
Park officials have been told of complaints about other head and neck injuries sustained after riding the attraction, according to court records.
But despite years of warnings, state regulators have allowed the attraction to keep operating until last month.
Lucy Alvarez, 46, felt so dizzy at the park that she needed to sit down after being on the ride, having hit the back of her head hard on the ride’s headrest.
Her pain didn't subside, even after she returned home to San Diego, where she kept experiencing light-headedness and head pain.
After a visit to the ER, she was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury, a traumatic subdural hematoma allegedly caused by the roller coaster ride.
Her attorney told CNN that her headaches and mental fogginess means she was unable to complete nursing school, while also struggling with memory loss, balance issues and chronic migraines.
According to them, a trial is scheduled for October 2027.
Just 22 at the time, Christopher Hawley rode X2 in June 2022 with his cousin and brother, with the three hitting their heads several times on the back of their seats.
He complained of feeling lightheaded before losing consciousness, as his cousin said in a court deposition: "I will never forget the fear from the look he gave me as his eyes closed."
By the time surgeons opened his skull, the grad student's brain had swelled so much that it started bulging out of the opening they made in an attempt to relieve pressure.
He died 10 hours after riding X2.
Pamela Guillen is one of the latest cases, recalling that she was anxious about riding the coaster which her 16-year-old daughter wanted to ride with her.
But she too hit her head multiple times on the headrest, with ambulance records showing that she started to vomit after her car pulled back into the station.
She lost consciousness and was placed on a ventilator in the back of an ambulance, with a CT scan revealing a severe subdural hematoma and brain compression.
Guillen went into a coma and woke in a hospital bed two weeks later with her head shaved and 20 staples in her scalp, with no idea about what had happened.
Six days later, Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson boarded X2 with her twin brother and younger sister.
Like Guillen, she also lost consciousness after riding the roller coaster and was rushed to the hospital for emergency brain surgery.
Her family told CNN that doctors explained she had a severe traumatic brain injury and they should prepare for the worst.
Her mother, Artemis Greer, told the publication: “Naomi should have never ever in a million years even had the option to get on that ride," as the father said whoever kept the ride open has “a lot to answer for.”