27 injured in roller coaster incident

MASON, Ohio, July 10 (UPI) -- An incident aboard a roller coaster at Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, has caused at least 27 people to seek hospital treatment for injuries.

Passengers on the ride reported a sharp jolt Sunday while riding Son of the Beast, billed by the park as the world's fastest and tallest wooden rollercoaster, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday.

"Everyone was screaming before (the jolt)," Weldon Shaffer, who was on the ride at the time of the incident, told the newpsaper. "Then it was complete silence the rest of the ride."

"It didn't stop. It felt like we hit something or jumped the track," Shaffer said.

Joe Kelley, a spokesman for Bethesda North Hospital in Montgomery, where 11 passengers were treated, said the injuries were "mostly bumps and bruises." Twenty of the patients being treated at local hospitals where released before 10 p.m. Sunday.

The ride had been inspected before opening Sunday, Kings Island spokeswoman Maureen Kaiser told the Enquirer. She said state investigators were expected to investigate the incident Monday.