Six Flags putting the brakes on monster rollercoaster after a series of injuries

An investigation by the news service has uncovered two separate cases of X2 riders who landed in surgery for brain hemorrhages “typically associated with high-speed collisions,” with one currently in a coma, according to three attending neurosurgeons. “The severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride,” they wrote in an email. 

These horrific cases are the latest in a series of at least 70 incidents involving X2, according to Six Flags records from 2019 to 2022 obtained by CNN. The coaster, which sends riders screaming through a skydive, a backflip, two “raven turns,” and a twisting front flip at a sustained speed of 76 mph, has reportedly been responsible for more than a dozen hospitalizations, two of which resulted in fatalities. (Though The Hollywood Reporter notes that Six Flags has maintained that of the two riders, both in their twenties, one had a “preexisting brain abnormality.”)

X2, which has been in operation since 2002, has been closed since July 12. As far as culpability goes, Six Flags maintains that X2’s routine safety testing meets industry standards and that the ride’s G-force—clocked at 4Gs—isn’t sufficient to threaten riders’ internal wiring if riders use X2 “as instructed.” The park’s legal team claims negligence was at the root of one injury. But future riders who have their lives abruptly ruined by their Six Flags experience shouldn’t worry that their suffering will be in vain; according to CNN, the park has offered the rider currently in a coma and her family a presumably free meal from McDonald’s.