The Fire Ball ride is a long arm on a pendulum, with a circle of carriages on the end, When the arm swings, the carriages spin and tilt.
A bystander happened to film the accident as it occurred, showing the terrifying moment the row of seats breaks free.
Warning: Graphic images
Kiley Neal was waiting with her sister Britney to go on the ride next when the tragedy occurred.
Britney told TODAY: ‘The ride was going as normal, and then all of a sudden you see people flying out, and then the guy hit the emergency stop button, which then made the seat fly off and people flew off as well.
The girls’ mother, Kristy Neal knew her girls were planning to go on the Fire Ball.
‘I just ran towards the direction of the rides. There were two state troopers beside me. I don’t know if they had even heard anything at that point and I said, ‘Something terrible has happened. I need to find my daughters.’
Organizers of the Ohio State Fair say the ride had been inspected multiple times during the event.
Michael Vartorella, chief inspector of the ride for the Department of Agriculture says the ride had passed all safety checks.
‘We take this job very serious, and when we have a tragedy like this it hits everybody, it hits us really hard,’ he said.
‘My children, my grandchildren ride this equipment. Our guys do not rush through this stuff.’
18-year-old Tyler Jarrell died at the scene. another seven were injured, including a 14-year-old boy. Four people are still in hospital, three of whom are in a critical condition.
This article first published on New Idea.
