Download File - The Six Flags Museum

Death at Six Flags ruled a drowning - Survivors tell of terror in time spent
under water - Cause of fatal raft accident sought
Fort Worth Star-Telegram - Tuesday, March 23, 1999
Author: Paul Bourgeois ; Jan Jarvis , Star-Telegram Writer
As Ginny Venneberg described it, her two young daughters were drowning in a ride at
Six Flags Over Texas and she was helpless to do anything about it.
Venneberg herself was upside down under water. It was dark. She was disoriented. Her
leg was broken. She could not find her children, and she feared the worst.
"I didn't think we were going to make it," Venneberg, 40, said yesterday at Fort Worth's
Cook Children's Medical Center, where she and her daughters - Jessica, 9, and Ashley, 7
- described Sunday's harrowing experience on the Roaring Rapids ride.
An Arkansas woman, Valeria Cartwright, died in the accident, and 10 people were
injured, including the Vennebergs.
Venneberg's husband, Fred, was kept overnight at Arlington Memorial Hospital, where
he was checked out for an irregular heartbeat, probably due to the stress of the ordeal,
Ginny Venneberg said. Jessica had bruises on her stomach and back from the raft's seat
belt, and Ashley was unhurt.
The Vennebergs had arrived Friday from Lawrence, Kan., for a spring break vacation. It
was their first visit to Six Flags, and they were taking advantage of a free ticket that thirdgrader
Jessica had won in a competition called MathCounts.
Ginny Venneberg said the raft started taking on water soon after the ride started.
By the time the raft flipped, Venneberg said, water in the round boat was at midcalf.
"It wasn't draining away. I told another lady, `This boat is going to sink,' " she said. "The
boat kind of stopped on a ridge like it couldn't get over it."
Then suddenly it was dark and they were under water, she said.
Christie Wilson, 23, of Everman was also on the raft. She said that when she felt it
popping up into the air, then flipping over into the water, she was grateful that her friend
somehow managed to reach over and unhook the seat belt that held them both in.
"Had she not done that, I don't think I would be alive now, " Wilson said.
Once under water, Wilson said, she was apparently the only one who did not have the
seat belt still on.
"I could feel people struggling, arms just trying and trying to get the seat belt off," she

said.
In the confusion, Wilson didn't know what to think, she just reacted, she said.
"I think we all thought we were going to die," she said. "The water was very cold. I
couldn't see anything because the water was so dark green."
Once she got her bearings, Wilson spotted a little girl in the water whose seat belt was
still on.
"I couldn't get the seat belt loose, so I just grabbed hold of her and pulled her out,"
Wilson said.
That little girl may have been Ashley Venneberg, who said she wasn't sure who rescued
her.
"Another woman got me to a safe spot," Ashley said.
Wilson, too, was unsure who the girl was amid the chaos. She said she just struggled to
hold the child's head above water.
"We couldn't get out because we were too far from anything," Wilson said. "She was
barely breathing, and she had taken in a lot of water. Finally somebody who worked there
got another raft."
Ashley's sister, Jessica, said she believes she and at least two others were pulled out by
her dad.
"I was scared. I thought I was going to die," she said.
Wilson said she noticed that at least three people had jumped into the water to help in the
rescue. She said her friend tried to help a man whose head was trapped between the
rubber seal and the hard plastic shell of the raft.
"She was trying her hardest to hold the raft up so he could get out," she said. "It was hard
because the water was moving and she was floating down the river with them."
Wilson said the next thing she realized, was she was being pulled to safety.
Ginny Venneberg said her family had planned to stay in the area for a week but that they
were hoping to fly home yesterday evening instead.
She said she harbored no resentment toward the amusement park.
"I'm just thankful my family is alive," she said.

Jessica, asked if she would ever go on the ride again, said: "I won't go on that ride, but I'll
go on other ones."
F.Y.I. For your information Two of the passengers who were on the Roaring Rapids raft
that overturned Sunday remained in the hospital yesterday.
Charlotte Williams, 26, was in good condition, and Monica Davis, 26, was in fair
condition, both at Arlington Memorial Hospital. They are from West Helena, Ark.
Other park guests on the ride were: Valeria Cartwright, 28, of West Helena, pronounced
dead at Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Dewayne Cartwright, 34, of West Helena, released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Michael Vaughan, 22, of West Helena, released from Arington Memorial Hospital.
Nedra Morrison, 22, of Barton, Ariz., released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Fred Venneberg, 42, of Lawrence, Kan., released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Ginny Venneberg, 40, of Lawrence Kan., released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Jessica Venneberg, 9, of Lawrence, Kan., released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Ashley Venneberg, 7, of Lawrence, Kan., released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Courtney Hanks, 18, of Plano, released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Christine Wilson, 23, of Everman, released from Arlington Memorial Hospital.
Paul Bourgeois, (817) 390-7796 bourgeois@star-telegram.com