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A Missouri couple is being hailed as heroes for saving a young girl’s life who let out a “blood-curdling scream” after her seatbelt came undone on a roller coaster.
The frightening moment happened at the Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City on Oct. 11 when Chris and Cassie Evins decided to ride the Mamba roller coaster, KCTV5 reported.
“We get on the roller coaster and the very first hill, the girl sitting behind my wife just lets out this blood-curdling scream like I’ve never heard before,” Chris Evins told the outlet.
He said at first he “assumed it was her first time on the ride,” and she was just scared when the young girl yelled out the horrifying truth.
“She said my seatbelt came undone,” he recalled.
Without hesitation, the husband and wife sprang into action, reaching behind them to secure the girl to her seat as the coaster reached speeds of up to 75 mph.
“I had looped my arm underneath her lap bar, which had a pretty big gap between her and the lap bar. So at this point, I’m seeing a huge space, no seatbelt,” Chris Evins said.
“I looped my arm underneath the lap bar, and I grabbed a hold of her wrist. My wife was pushing down on her legs.”
The couple said as season ticket holders of the amusement park, they were able to anticipate the twists, turns, and hills on the Mamba as they helped secure the girl to her seat.
“As we crested each hill or as we started to go up to the top, I recognized that it was going to lift her out of her seat,” Chris Evins said.
“So I kind of shifted our positions to, instead of hold her, to push down on her whole body to keep her from coming out of the seat while we’re going over those hills.”
The couple managed to keep the rider secure until the ride stopped.
A photo taken by the ride’s camera showed the terrified girl screaming for her life as the Evins tried their hardest to keep her from falling out of the speedy coaster.
“My whole thought after the incident is, what if it had been somebody else in our seats? What if it was others, her friends?” Chris Evins said.
The hero couple said after getting off the ride, they were separated from the girl during the chaos and never had a chance to speak with her or her family, but they are glad she is safe.
“You know, they could have had a drastically different outcome,” Chris Evins stated.
Worlds of Fun told KCTV5 that the ride was immediately shut down after the incident and thoroughly inspected.
“The ride has undergone a comprehensive safety review, and we have implemented modifications requested by the Fire Marshall to ensure it meets or exceeds all applicable safety standards before it reopens to guests this evening,” a spokesperson for the amusement park said.
The Missouri Department of Public Safety said the Mamba also went through an inspection on April 25.
However, a “spot inspection” on Oct. 30 resulted in the ride being shut down.
The ride was reinspected that afternoon, following repairs, and approved to operate again, the department said.
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