Boy dies after roller coaster ride
Death reportedly occurred after ride at Disney MGM theme park in Florida

ORLANDO, Fla. - A boy died after riding a roller coaster Thursday at the Disney MGM theme park, the Orange County sheriff’s office said.

The Orange County sheriff’s office said the boy was 7, but Disney said he was 12. The discrepancy couldn’t immediately be explained. He died after he was brought by ambulance to a hospital at about 11:30 a.m., a Disney statement said.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Solomons said the cause of death was not immediately known.

Park officials closed the ride and said a preliminary investigation showed the ride was operating normally.

A Disney Web site description of the ride says: “Zoom from 0-60 mph with the force of a supersonic F-14, take in high-speed loops and turns synchronized to a specially recorded Aerosmith soundtrack.”

Two other people have died after going on another Disney ride: Epcot’s “Mission: Space.” The space simulator spins riders in a centrifuge that subjects them to twice the normal force of gravity.

Daudi Bamuwamye, 4, of Sellersville, Pa., died June 13, 2005. An autopsy determined he died of an irregular heartbeat linked to an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle that can cause sudden death.

In February, a 77-year-old woman with diabetes and other ailments died at Disney World after riding the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

And in April, a 49-year-old woman from Germany became ill and died after the ride. A medical examiner’s report said she died from bleeding of the brain and had severe high blood pressure.

The ride has signs warning people with heart, back and neck problems not to ride. Epcot now offers a tamer version of the ride that does not include centrifugal force.

Disney MGM is among the Walt Disney Co.’s four parks in Florida.

(c) MSNBC, 29. Juni 2006