A 14-year-old boy fell to his death while on an amusement ride said to be as tall as the Statue of Liberty in Orlando, Florida on Thursday night (local time).
The teen, who has been identified as Tyre Sampson, was visiting Florida from the state of Missouri with his friends and family.
Detectives say they will determine whether the incident was accidental.
"It appears to be just a terrible tragedy," Orange County Sheriff John Mina told local media. "We will see moving forward what [the investigation] results in."
ABC News reports that Sampon died after being taken to hospital.
A man who witnessed the tragic incident told a 911 dispatcher that Sampson had slipped out of his seat as the ride braked.
"Bam, went straight through his chair and dropped," the man said on the 911 call. "It was the biggest smack I ever heard in my life. I [saw] him hit the ground."
The free-fall ride and an adjacent ride, The Slingshot, have been closed indefinitely.
In 2021, a maintenance technician who was not properly hooked up to a safety device plunged 68.5 metres to his death at a neighbouring ride at the park, the 137-kilometre-tall StarFlyer swing ride.
