First pictures of toddler killed in rollercoaster accident

Tragedy: Erjon Hyseni was hit by a ride
Amar Singh12 April 2012

The two-year-old boy killed after being struck by a rollercoaster has been named as Erjon Hyseni.

The toddler's mother Migena and father Lulzim, from Haringey, north London screamed and had to be held back as the tragedy unfolded.

The horrific scenes were described by witnesses today after Erjon ran on to the tracks of the ride at Ducketts Common in Wood Green.

Residents said they heard the frantic shouts and screams of the child's mother and father as their son lay on the grass by the Go-Gator children's roller coaster.

Graham Harper, 31, who lives opposite the fairground said: "I heard shouting and about ten security guards wearing reflective jackets were opening all the barriers trying to get to the child. The father was very distressed and being held back by a friend.

"The child was lying in between the bouncy castle and where the tracks of the child's ride are.

"He was on the bouncy castle and the next minute he was on the tracks of the Go-Gator ride.

"There were yellow railings on the side of the ride between it and the bouncy castle but the child must have got underneath or through them.

"I don't think he fell off the ride, but was hit by the carriage.

"The child's father was extremely distressed and trying to get to his son but a friend and then later police restrained him as paramedics worked on his son at the scene for about half an hour. He was then rushed to hospital, I think with multiple injuries."

Another resident Dorothy Murphy, 88, said: "I didn't see anything because my sight is bad but I think everyone heard the terrified screams of the mother of the little boy.

"She was in a very bad state. She was crying and screaming, I knew something awful had happened. I couldn't make out words, just her panicked screams of terror."

He was taken to hospital by ambulance with severe injuries but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival. Police were called to the funfair at about 7.30pm.

The Health and Safety Executive has launched an investigation and were today running tests on the rollercoaster and examining the safety measures

Ray Smith, spokesman for the Showmen's Guild, the trade association for fairgrounds, said: "The whole fairground industry is shocked. There is an investigation going on and everyone is fully co-operating.

"The operator hit the stop button as soon as she saw him — at the moment we don't know how he got to the tracks at the back of the roller coaster.

"The whole thing is an awful, shocking tragedy and we send our sympathies to the family. This is the first fatality on a British fairground in 10 years and serious incidents are extremely rare."

The funfair, held for nine days every May in the small park of Ducketts Common, is run by a Hertfordshire-based company called JEA Manning and Sons. The company runs similar fairs in areas including Enfield, Finsbury Park and Hackney.

Mr Smith said: "The Manning family have been running funfairs for generations and have always made safety a priority."

A Met police spokeswoman said: "A post mortem will take place later today. There have been no arrests."

Flowers were laid close to the scene of the tragic accident today.

In 1999, Narelle Cozens a 28 year-old Australian tourist was killed when a ride car fell to the ground in Shepherds Bush.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in