Two women suffered catastrophic brain injuries after riding X2 at Six Flags Magic Mountain in California, according to a CNN investigation.
The incidents occurred less than a week apart in July and involved life-threatening brain haemorrhages that required emergency surgery.
CNN reported that Pamela Guillen, 40, from Hawaii, was visiting the park with her family for her daughter’s 16th birthday when she rode X2.
Guillen reportedly struck her head repeatedly against the headrest during the ride before losing consciousness after getting off.
Surgeons were able to save her life, and she regained full consciousness about two weeks later. She then had to relearn how to walk and talk.
Guillen told CNN she was “very lucky to be alive.”
Six days later, Los Angeles resident Naomi Greer-Wilkinson, 25, rode X2 with her siblings and allegedly suffered similar injuries.
She underwent emergency brain surgery. Greer-Wilkinson remains in a coma and on a ventilator.
Doctors said they believed the women’s life-threatening injuries were caused by X2.
“In our professional opinion, the severe brain injuries requiring emergent neurosurgical attention were the result of a traumatic rapid acceleration-deceleration event experienced while on the X2 ride,” doctors wrote in an email obtained by CNN.
X2 has seats that rotate independently as the roller coaster moves, causing riders to flip during the ride.
According to KTLA, X2 has remained closed since July, although Six Flags has not given a reason for the closure.
Park officials have not publicly commented on the alleged injuries and have only confirmed that the ride remains closed.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health is investigating and told KTLA that no further details were available at the time.
Two previous deaths have also been linked to X2.
In June 2022, 22-year-old Christopher Hawley died hours after riding the roller coaster.
His brother and cousin, who rode with him, said they repeatedly struck their heads and were thrown around “like rag dolls.”
Hawley lost consciousness seconds after getting off the ride and died about 10 hours later.
A wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family said a CT scan showed he had suffered a catastrophic subdural haematoma caused by the roller coaster.
His father told KTTV that a surgeon compared Hawley’s injuries to “shaken baby syndrome,” saying X2 “hit his head so hard that it had basically ruptured his brain.”
Hawley’s family reached a settlement with Six Flags Magic Mountain, according to KTTV. Details of the settlement will remain confidential.
“We went from a family of four to a family of three in an instant,” Hawley’s mother told KTTV. “It’s devastating. It is a piece of us that is gone forever.”
In 2010, 28-year-old Hilda Farias died after riding X2. Doctors believed an existing brain abnormality had ruptured because of the intensity of the ride.
Her family later settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount.
