Wongel Estifanos' Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - Wongel Estifanos died on the Haunted Mine Drop on Sept. 5.

The report on the investigation states that the fatal accident was the result of multiple operator errors, including the failure to make sure that the child was restrained. The investigation revealed that Wongel was not belted into the restraint system when the ride was dispatched. One of the operators did not prepare the seatbelts before allowing Wongel and the other passengers to be seated. The little girl sat on top of the still locked seatbelts on a previously unoccupied seat.

The alert system in place to notify ride operators that the restraints were not properly secured was overridden by the operator, according to the investigation.

Wongel, from Colorado Springs, was vacationing with her family in Glenwood Springs earlier this month. She was on the park's Haunted Mine Drop which drops riders 110 feet.

The lawsuit alleges that, among other allegations,:

• 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.

The lawsuit also maintains that 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. Glenwood Caverns is also accused of not turning over all complaints about the Haunted Mine Drop made by customers.