Six Flags Says It Will Add Seat Belts to Goliath and Similar Coasters, Cause of Oct. 12 Death Still Unstated

Since 42-year-old Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem of Atlanta was ejected from the Goliath coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Oct. 12, Six Flags has closed nine rides in all. On Friday, Oct. 23, it announced its first concrete equipment change.

"We are reinforcing safety precautions at our parks and taking additional measures, including adding seat belts on Goliath and other coasters with a similar restraint," John Reilly, president and CEO of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, said in a statement.

Reilly did not say which other rides will get belts. He did not say when any closed coaster will reopen.

What is known about the Goliath death

Goliath remains shut while state and local officials investigate. They have not said what went wrong.

Witnesses said they saw Kariem rise out of his seat and fall headfirst back into the cart before he was ejected. Some people who rode Goliath earlier that day said they had concerns about its restraints.

The ride uses a clamshell restraint: a vertical bar between the rider's knees that locks a padded restraint over the lap and upper legs. Bolliger & Mabillard, the Swiss manufacturer, was granted a U.S. patent on the design in 2001. The patent says the design is meant to make each rider feel "that he is seated on a flying carpet or that he is at the controls of a kind of flying scooter, while still guaranteeing optimum security."

Eight more coasters are still closed

Six Flags has temporarily closed eight additional roller coasters at five other parks in the U.S. and Canada. All nine closed Six Flags rides were built by Bolliger & Mabillard and use similar restraints.

The other parks are in Gurnee, Illinois; Jackson Township, New Jersey; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mason, Ohio; and Vaughan, Ontario.

Six Flags says it has hired independent engineers and ride inspection specialists to review safety procedures across all its rides and parks. Its statement said the company is "committed to carefully evaluating their findings and taking appropriate action to further strengthen our standards and culture of safety."

Some of the closed rides already have belts

Theme Park Tribune reported that several of the closed coasters already carry seat belts in addition to the clamshell restraint. It listed Diamondback and Orion at Kings Island, Behemoth and Leviathan at Canada's Wonderland, and Thunder Striker and Fury 325 at Carowinds.

By that account, the rides that would actually gain belts are Goliath, Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America and Nitro at Six Flags Great Adventure. Six Flags has not confirmed that list.

The closures reached beyond the chain. SeaWorld Orlando and La Ronde in Montreal each closed one coaster that uses clamshell restraints.

SeaWorld reopened its Mako coaster on Tuesday, Oct. 20, after a week offline. Theme Park Tribune reported that Mako has no seat belts. The Associated Press asked SeaWorld on Saturday whether it plans belts or other upgrades and has not yet reported an answer. La Ronde has not publicly updated the status of its closed ride.

Theme Park Tribune also reported that Hersheypark's Candymonium, a similar hypercoaster that already uses seat belts, has reopened.

A company already under financial pressure

Theme Park Tribune reported that Six Flags closed Friday at $6.77 a share, versus $57.63 when its merger with Cedar Fair was completed in July 2024. The publication put the 2026 decline at 55 percent. Those figures describe the stock price, not what any particular investor lost.

Reilly was hired late last year after the departure of previous CEO Richard Zimmerman.

The same publication also reported that this was the first death on a B&M coaster involving a passenger falling from a ride. It said the company has 133 coasters operating worldwide and has been building them for 36 years. That is the publication's account, not a finding by investigators.

What is unresolved

Six Flags is adding hardware before any investigator has said the restraint failed. The company has not said the restraint caused the ejection, and officials have not said so either.

The open questions are specific. Georgia and local investigators have yet to say what happened to Kariem. Six Flags has not said which rides get belts or when the eight closed coasters reopen. SeaWorld has not said whether Mako will be changed.