{Tampa, Fla. (WFLA) \u2013 Busch Gardens closed the Congo River Rapids ride Tuesday after four people were killed on a similar ride in Australia.}<\/p>\n
Two men and two women were killed after the river rapids ride malfunctioned at a popular theme park on Australia\u2019s east coast, officials said.<\/p>\n
Tampa Busch Gardens officials confirmed to News Channel 8 they closed the Congo River ride after the Australia deaths.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of an abundance of caution we have made the decision to close our Congo River Rapids ride while we work with other park operators and ride manufacturers to understand what happened in Australia,\u201d a Busch Gardens spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur thoughts and prayers are with all of those involved in the tragic incident at the Dreamworld park. The safety of guests and team members continues to be Busch Gardens\u2019 number one priority. All ride attractions are inspected daily by trained technicians to ensure they are operating properly and meet all safety guidelines set forth by state agencies and well as the ride manufacturers,\u201d the spokeswoman added.<\/p>\n
Fans of Busch Gardens talked with News Channel 8 about the news. \u201cThey should take extra precautions to recheck their ride so it won\u2019t happen again,\u201d Marilyn Wilson said.<\/p>\n
Alex Cross was visiting from the United Kingdom. \u201cThey\u2019re just playing it safe, ya know. It\u2019s been open for 10-15 year plus without any issues that we\u2019re aware of so, it just seems a bit (too) precautious,\u201d Cross said.<\/p>\n
In Australia, the Thunder River Rapids ride whisked people in circular rafts along a fast-moving, man-made river. A malfunction caused two people to be ejected from their raft, while two others were caught inside the ride, said Gavin Fuller, an officer with the Queensland Ambulance Service. He did not know whether the two victims who were caught in the ride were trapped under water, or caught up in the machinery.<\/p>\n
Park staffers administered first aid to the victims, but their injuries proved fatal, Fuller told reporters.<\/p>\n
The victims were in their 30s and early 40s, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{Tampa, Fla. (WFLA) \u2013 Busch Gardens closed the Congo River Rapids ride Tuesday after four people were killed on a similar ride in Australia.} Two men and two women were killed after the river rapids ride malfunctioned at a popular theme park on Australia\u2019s east coast, officials said. Tampa Busch Gardens officials confirmed to News […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[99],"byline":[2719],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-29731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-greatlakesnews","byline-news-channel"],"bylines":[{"id":2719,"name":"News Channel","slug":"news-channel","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":2719,"name":"News Channel","slug":"news-channel","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29731"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=29731"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=29731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}