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11-year-old girl falls to death from New Jersey Ferris wheel

by cexline | June 4, 2011 at 08:45 am

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Abdiah Jones, 11, fell to her death on Friday by plummeting from an amusement park Ferris Wheel while on a school trip at a popular shore resort in Wildwood, New Jersey. She was a student at Pleasant Tech Academy in Pleasantville, New Jersey.

The Ferris wheel is 156-feet high and it’s not clear where Jones was on the wheel when she fell, according to Tim Samson who’s the brand manager for Morey’s Mariner Landing Pier. Samson said that the park was packed with school children that day and many would have seen where she fell.

Police received their first call about the incident at 12:30 p.m. on Friday. Jones was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m. Officials closed down the facility the remainder of the day so officials from the New Jersey carnival amusement department could inspect the wheel. The park is expected to reopen on Saturday.

The Ferris wheel was built in 1985 and one of its main attractions is that riders can get a great view of the adjacent beach and ocean as they go around continuously.

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The 1

at 11:08 on June 4th, 2011

Obviously a terrible tragedy..

jhgushgoe (not verified)

at 08:49 on June 14th, 2011

This is terrible accident and I pray for her and her parents. I can't help but to wonder what she had been doing on there to have fallen. The bars around the seats are actually at a reasonable height.She couldn't have just been sitting there and fallen off. I do agree with her parents that there should be restraints especially if that ferris wheel is higher than some rollercoasters.