A dad saved his son from falling out of a moving rollercoaster carriage when his seatbelt "came apart" mid-ride.
Delbert Latham captured on camera the terrifying moment his six-year-old son Kayson suddenly slid down in his seat on the Mouse Trap ride at Wonderland Amusement Park in Texas, America.
In the clip Latham can be seen grabbing hold of Keyson and trying to reassure him by saying: "I've gotcha. It's alright. You're fine."
Latham shared the clip on Facebook on Saturday 23 April with the caption: "Scary moment for the Latham family tonight at #Wonderland our seatbelt came apart on the Mouse Trap and Kaysen slid to the bottom of the floor board and I had to grab him and pull him back up and hold him for the rest of the ride.
"What makes it worse is when I told the guy at the end of the ride he stated that he knew that had happened sometimes!
"Really it's already happens and you continue to let people ride? And after this they continued to let people ride they just didn't let anyone in the back seat!"
Wonderland Amusement Park issued an official statement following the incident, which read:
"Wonderland Amusement Park has taken great strides over the past 65 years to ensure the safety of our visitors at all times, therefore we were extremely concerned to hear about the experience of Mr. Latham and his six-year-old son over the weekend.
"The seatbelt in the last car on the Mouse Trap rollercoaster reportedly came loose creating a very scary situation for the family.
"Mr. Latham immediately informed the ride operator, found a member of management and reached out through a private social media message. We appreciate his diligence in quickly bringing this to our attention.
"Wonderland immediately reached back out to Mr. Latham the evening it happened and promptly removed the back cart from the ride and ensured all other seatbelts were in proper working order. The Mouse Trap was back in full operation on Saturday.
"This particular ride was originally built without seatbelts, but Wonderland later added belts as an extra safety measure. The Park’s Safety and Maintenance Team is tasked with conducting daily inspections on every Park ride to ensure the safety of Park goers."
Following the incident Wonderland Amusement Park underwent an independent insurance inspection.
Amusement park ride inspector Tom Dorgan, who is certified by the National Association of Ride Safety Officials (NARSO), completed a full inspection of the Mouse Trap.
“We found no deficiencies in this ride," he said in a statement released by the amusement park. "With the most recent incident regarding the lap belt, we found no deficiency in the belt, in the belt being attached to the car or the buckle that allegedly failed. There was no failure in the buckle that I can determine."
"This particular buckle is widely used in the industry. It’s a plastic molded buckle that has a very positive lock. These are fairly new and they are very good and they are very strong. I attempted to pull them apart and can’t."
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