A Disney accident has left a man without fingertips after a bizarre and unexplained mishap on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
The incident happened Thursday morning at Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom in Florida. Officials say the rider, a tourist from the United Kingdom, lost two fingertips on his right hand at some point during the ride.
The Disney rider lost fingertips on his ring and pinky fingers, noted Bo Jones of the Reedy Creek Fire Department. The man was taken to a hospital, but his condition was not released.
Though the Disney fingertips incident may seem bizarre, accidents of the sort are not out of the norm for a park that attracts more than 17 million people each year.
Several of the park’s accidents have ended in death . In 1977, a boy from Dolton, Illinois, drowned in the moat surrounding Cinderella Castle. The tragedy led to a lawsuit against Disney for $4 million. A jury found that the boy’s parents partially at fault for allowing him to climb over a fence. They were eventually awarded $1.5 million.
In 2004, a 38-year-old park employee dressed as Pluto was killed when he was run over by the Beauty and the Beast float in the Share a Dream Come True Parade. The incident led OSHA to fine Disney $6,300 for having employees in a restricted area.
The Pirates of the Caribbean ride has seen its own share of accidents. In 2005, a 77-year-old woman from Minnesota lost consciousness and died after completing the ride. A coroner’s report later found that the victim was in poor health and suffered a series of mini strokes.
The following year a park employee died while playing the role of a pirate in Captain Jack’s Pirate Tutorial. The man, 47-year-old Mark Priest, slipped on a puddle and hit his head on a wall. He was taken to Florida Hospital Orlando with a broken vertebra in his neck and severe lacerations in his head, and died four days later.
Disney officials say the fingertips mishap is still under investigation.