A tram car at Common Studios Hollywood threw 15 of its riders to the bottom after it struck a guardrail close to props from the “Jurassic Park” movie franchise in an accident that’s below investigation by the California Freeway Patrol.
Particulars of the accident that occurred Saturday evening — amid the sixtieth anniversary of the attraction — stay sketchy however the CHP mentioned the company has decided that medication and alcohol weren’t an element within the crash.
The tram was driving by way of the storied Common Studios again lot shortly after 9 p.m. when the crash occurred, in response to authorities.
The linked tram automobiles handed by a set of props from the “Jurassic Park” movie franchise when the tram driver turned onto Avenue M and for some unknown purpose the final automobile within the procession collided with the steel guardrail on the best aspect, the CHP mentioned. This brought about the tram to “tilt and eject a number of passengers from the tram,” authorities mentioned in a information launch.
The Los Angeles County Fireplace Division acquired a name for service shortly after 9 p.m. for the crash and 15 passengers have been transported to a hospital with minor to average accidents.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Division additionally responded to the scene however the CHP is the lead company, a Common Studios spokesperson mentioned.
“Our ideas proceed to be with the visitors who have been concerned, and we’re grateful that based mostly on company reviews, the accidents sustained have been minor,” Common Studios mentioned in an announcement.
The theme park is working intently with authorities as Common Studios continues its “evaluate of the incident and security stays a prime precedence.”
The Studio Tour tram experience, which is celebrating its sixtieth anniversary this week, will proceed to function with a modified route and the theme park will reinforce its “operational and security protocols.”
The standing of the injured passengers was unclear as of Monday.
In some ways, the tram experience got here to outline the theme park.
Over time, numerous riders have loved shut encounters with a robotic shark depicting the blood-thirsty animal within the film “Jaws,” a terrifying cease exterior the Bates Motel from the movie basic “Psycho” and a harrowing escape from the clutches of King Kong.
Newer movie franchises have joined the tour, together with a stroll by way of a suburban neighborhood wasted by aliens from the 2005 movie “Struggle of the Worlds” to a western-themed sideshow from Jordan Peele’s 2022 film “Nope.”
The tram tour obtained its begin in 1964 when Common Studios executives seen that meals gross sales on the studio commissary shot up after native tour buses have been allowed previous the studio gates to let followers get a glimpse of the again lot film units and props.
The primary iteration of the attraction have been the pink-and-white Glamour Trams, which carried about 38,200 riders within the first 12 months. Passengers paid $2.50 for a two-and-a-half hour tour that included stops to see a stunt present and a film make-up exhibition.
Later renamed the Common Studios Studio Tour, the trams have since endured actual life fires, labor strife, a collection of expansions and no less than one deadly accident.
The theme park launched a renovation undertaking in 2022 to start changing the diesel-hydraulic powered autos to run on electrical energy to cut back emissions. It isn’t clear if the tram that struck the guard rail was a more recent electrical car or an older model.
This isn’t the primary time an accident occurred on the theme park. In 1986, a park worker was run over by the tram throughout a particular Halloween “Fright Nights” present. Paul Rebalde, 20, was stationed on a parked tram full of mannequins dressed to seem like corpses, the Sheriff’s Division mentioned on the time.
Whereas in costume, Rebalde was to leap from among the many mannequins on the parked tram and frighten folks passing on transferring trams, however was trapped between the third and fourth sections of one of many four-section transferring trams and was run over and dragged to his demise, in response to authorities. The Halloween-themed attraction was paused for a number of years and later rebranded “Halloween Horror Nights.”
Extra lately, a stunt performer was hospitalized after performing in the “Waterworld” present in January 2023. The performer was set on hearth shortly earlier than taking a leap off a tower within the present’s finale. The “Waterworld: A Stay Sea Struggle Spectacular” present is impressed by the 1995 Kevin Costner movie and opened months after the film’s debut.
Occasions editor Hugo Martin contributed to this report.
