Amusement park ride resumes 1 minute after man is flung 3 meters into the air

A man was flung off a disco pang-pang ride at an amusement park on Wolmido Island in Incheon, but the park resumed operations roughly one minute later without conducting any safety checks.

The Incheon Jungbu Police Station is investigating the circumstances of the accident, in which a rider fell from the attraction on Aug. 23, according to JTBC's "Sageon Banjang," a crime and incident news program.

The disco pang-pang is a ride in which passengers sit around a circular platform and endure spinning and bouncing motions, holding on only to railings or handles with no separate safety harness.

Footage of the accident broadcast on the program showed a man, identified only as A, being launched into the air and thrown clear of the ride.

During the incident, one of A's shoes flew off while the ride was spinning. He reached out to grab it and lost his balance from the rebound, striking his lower back against the railing before being hurled about 2 to 3 meters through the air and landing on the ground outside the ride.

A friend of the person who reported the incident said they witnessed A being thrown off. "He hit his lower back first, then his neck hit the ground," the friend said. The DJ operating the ride was also reportedly so startled that he cried out, "What is this?"

Staff immediately stopped the ride and checked on A's condition, and two companions who had been riding with him also stepped off.

Despite this, the park loaded the next group of waiting passengers and resumed the ride about one minute after the accident, without any separate inspection of the equipment or the scene.

"A person had been flung 2 to 3 meters and was lying on the ground, yet the ride just kept going as if nothing had happened," the person who reported the incident said. "It felt deeply wrong."

A was reportedly trembling and bleeding from his forehead immediately after the accident, and was seen repeatedly bending and straightening his legs. Police and emergency responders arrived at the scene about 15 minutes after the accident. A was taken to a hospital for treatment and discharged two days later with no serious injuries.

Police have secured CCTV footage from the scene and plan to investigate whether the ride operator and the facility manager were negligent in their duties.

The district office conducted a joint on-site inspection after the accident but said no mechanical defects or other problems with the facility itself were found. It issued an administrative guidance order requiring the park to strengthen operational safety management and staff training.

The amusement park did not respond to questions from the program's production team about the circumstances of the accident or why the ride was restarted so quickly.