A roller coaster in Japan known for its speed and acceleration was shut down in August 2021 after several riders reported broken bones.
The coaster, Do-Dodonpa, at the Fuji-Q Highland theme park located in Japan's Yamanashi Prefecture, was shuttered on Aug. 12, 2021, pending an inspection by the park and government, according to a statement posted by the park. Four people who rode the coaster between December 2020 and August 2021 reported serious injuries.
"Currently, the causal relationship between injuries and amusement machines has not yet been confirmed," the park statement read.
Officials from Yamanashi Prefecture, which is about 75 miles southwest of Tokyo said in a news conference that the four injured riders ranged in age from their 30s to 50s and suffered fractured neck, chest, and back bones, according to the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun.
In the news conference, Yamanashi Gov. Kotaro Nagasaki expressed anger that the injuries weren't reported to the prefectural government sooner.
The ride opened in 2001 but underwent a major renovation in 2017. One of the fastest coasters in the world, the ride's cars are mechanically propelled to accelerate to about 111 mph in approximately 1.56 seconds, according to the Shimbun.
The ride's acceleration and speed can be seen from a first-person point of view in a video uploaded to YouTube in 2018 by Theme Park Reviews here: