MONTREAL - Halfway through the roller coaster ride, Alex Paradis's safety harness came off.
The 12-year-old was left dangling, completely and utterly helpless, 35 metres above ground, halfway through his trip on the Boomerang, one of La Ronde's oldest thrill rides.
"I was scared," Alex said in a telephone interview this week. "I didn't know what was going to happen. I tried to lower (the harness). And then I closed my eyes."
Alex and his friend Marc Boudrias, also 12, boarded the coaster just after 4 p.m. during a trip to the amusement park on July 6. Despite the malfunction, they made it back to solid ground with no injuries -just a terrifying memory.
"I panicked a bit," Marielle Lagace, Alex's mother, said of her reaction to the news. "It was dangerous. I was scared for my boy."
The Boomerang, which opened in 1984, is one of La Ronde's most popular roller coasters. It pulls riders up about 35 metres before dropping them through a series of loops at a speed of 75 kilometres per hour. After that, riders are pulled up again, this time backward, only to repeat the same loops again.
It was at the beginning of this second backward drop that the harnesses came undone.
The same thing happened to two other riders in the same car. They left the site before they could be identified.
Luckily, the impressive speed of the ride ended up saving the boys. Thanks to centrifugal force, the youngsters were pushed into their seats for the remainder of the ride.
"I told the lady what happened after the ride," Alex said. "All she said was that she was sorry and that that wasn't supposed to happen."
The family was offered four VIP day passes to the park in compensation, which they didn't end up taking.
"He's not going to La Ronde anymore," Lagace said.
Marc Paradis, Alex's father, sat the ride out. He noticed that it took a while for his son to get off the ride.
"It was a mechanical problem," Paradis said. "So I understand that it could break, like my car could break down."
The thing that angered Paradis so much was the attitude of the La Ronde employees, who failed to "take charge of the situation."
"All they did was say they were sorry," he said.
When contacted by The Gazette, La Ronde provided a statement about the incident, explaining that a "release switch ... prematurely engaged." The ride was fully inspected and adjustments to the release mechanism were made before reopening the ride, the statement said.
The ride was closed until the next day.
La Ronde opened in 1967 and was run by the city until the land was rented to the Six Flags amusement park corporation in 2001. Six Flags has been running the show ever since.
The amusement park attracts 1.1 million visitors every year, according to La Ronde.
"The safety of our guests is our No. 1 priority," said Martin Roy, communication director for the park. "For over 43 years, La Ronde has maintained an exemplary safety record."
He added that there have never been any ride-related deaths at La Ronde, but when asked, he did not confirm whether any other malfunctions have occurred at the park.
La Ronde employees conduct a thorough inspection of all their rides every day before the park opens, totalling more than 300 man hours, according to Roy.
"Inspections take place from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. prior to park opening and also during ride operation and during the night shift," he said.
Since Six Flags has taken over, the company has invested $90 million in the park, adding many new rides, including this year's addition of Ednor, an enormous roller coaster that travels at 90 kilometres an hour while skimming over a lake.
A recent study of amusement park safety indicates that fixed-site amusement parks are extremely safe. The Fixed-Site Amusement Ride Injury Survey, conducted by the National Safety Council in Itasca, Ill., crunched data from 179 facilities.
In 2008, one roller coaster ride out of a million resulted in an injury, the study shows.
La Ronde's website carries a disclaimer reminding patrons they are having fun at their own risk.
