The horrific tragedy on Friday that found a woman tossed from a wooden roller-coaster, plummeting to her death at the Six Flags Over Texas amusement park, has been ruled an accident, authorities confirmed on Monday.
Rosa Ayala-Goana, 52, died on the tracks of the 14-story-high Texas Giant ride at the amusement park in Arlington, according to a statement from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
"At this point of the investigation, it does not appear that there was any foul play or criminality associated with this tragic incident," Arlington police said in a statement.
Experts on amusement ride safety say that the investigation into the freak accident could take months.
A lack of amusement park safety investigators coupled with the task of sifting through thousands of documents and interviewing hundreds of witnesses will likely cause the investigation to drag on for some time, Ken Martin of KRM Consulting in Richmond, Va. told the Star-Telegram.
Local media outlets said that it was Ayala-Goana's first trip to the amusement park, and that she had just celebrated her birthday on June 28.
Carment Brown, who also rode the Texas Giant coaster on Friday said she watched Ayala-Goana ask one of the Six Flags ride attendants to make sure she was correctly fastened because her lap bar did not click more than once.
"Everybody else is like 'Click, click, click,'" Brown told The Dallas Morning News. "Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once and she didn't feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride."
Other witnesses said the woman "basically tumbled over," while the ride was in motion.
The ride will remain closed pending the outcome of a re-inspection.
Since April 2008, 12 people have reported injuries as a result of the Texas Giant, according to the state Insurance Department. They include a 46-year-old woman who was "jostled" by the roller coaster and suffered a contusion on her left arm last summer. Eight other people suffered contusions, strains, back pains, possible fractures and a concussion.