Family files lawsuit after Colorado Springs girl died on an amusement park ride called the Haunted Mine Drop

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) - Lawyers on behalf of the family of a Colorado Springs girl who died on an amusement park ride have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the park.

Wongel Estifanos was 6 when she tragically died in early September while riding the Haunted Mine Drop at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Colorado.

Dan Caplis Law Firm filed the suit late Wednesday morning. The firm sent the following statement to 11 News,

Today the parents of Wongel Estifanos took the first step in their battle for the full truth and full accountability from the amusement park that killed their beloved 6-year-old daughter Wongel.
Estifanos Dagne and Rahel Estifanos have filed a wrongful death civil action against the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. They will use this civil action to force the full truth to be disclosed to them, and to the public. Their mission is to protect other families by holding all who are responsible for the killing of their daughter fully accountable, and by sending a loud and clear message to the entire amusement park industry.
As the wrongful death civil action that was filed today details:
Wongel was killed by the extreme recklessness of Glenwood Caverns and its ride operators.
Glenwood Caverns and the operators knew that if they did not properly belt Wongel into the ride that she would fall 110 feet to her death.
The operators of the ride did not place the seatbelts on Wongel as required.
Even after a warning light on the control screen alerted the operators to a problem with Wongel’s seatbelt, the operators failed to look and see that they had not belted Wongel into the ride.
Instead of unloading the ride after the warning light alerted them to a problem with Wongel’s restraints, the Operators did a work-around and launched the ride with Wongel completely unbuckled.
Glenwood Caverns failed to teach the ride operators what to do if a warning light went off.
As the State of Colorado determined, passengers cannot be expected to know or correctly belt themselves into the ride.
Glenwood Caverns is solely responsible for placing the seatbelts on each rider and confirming that each rider is properly restrained.
The State of Colorado concluded that Glenwood Caverns was operating the ride with employees who were not equipped to operate the ride safely.
Before Wongel was killed the park was repeatedly warned by terrified customers that the ride operators were not properly belting passengers into the Haunted Mine Drop.
After Wongel was killed the State of Colorado ordered Glenwood Caverns to turn over all complaints about the Haunted Mine Drop made by customers since the ride opened. The State of Colorado says that (despite that order), Glenwood Caverns did not provide State investigators with the written complaints made to the park by customers in 2018 and 2019. Those horrified customers warned Glenwood Caverns in 2018 and 2019 that operators of the Haunted Mine Drop had failed to belt some passengers into the ride.
Because Glenwood Caverns did not turn the prior warnings from customers over to the State of Colorado investigators as required, it is only because of the media coverage of this killing that we know of the existence of these important witnesses. Because of that the parents of Wongel are respectfully requesting that othe witnesses come forward and contact their attorneys at the Dan Caplis Law Firm through:
Dan Caplis
303-770-5551
Estifanos and Rahel thank you for your time and consideration.
Dan Caplis Law Firm

11 News obtained copies of every Certificate of Inspection for the ride since it first opened, all which show it has been in compliance with all regulations and passed all inspections. The most recent check was just three months ago. According to the amusement park’s website, the attraction sends riders dropping 110 feet and requires guests to sign a liability waiver.

According to a state report, ride operators did not notice 6-year-old Estifanos was sitting on top of both seat belts.

“This fatal accident was the result of multiple operator errors, exacerbated by several factors,” part of the report reads. Click here to read the full report or scroll to the bottom of this article.

A GoFundMe was set up to raise money for the family and has raised more than $78,000 as of Oct. 19.