The early summer day on June 25 started as usual. The couple Karin and Mikael Elmegard visit Gröna Lund, as they often do to get into the holiday spirit. The Jetline is one of their favorite attractions and they decide to go. Everything feels normal when the journey begins, but on a hill they notice that the train suddenly brakes.
– We ride very uncontrolled in a way it never usually does. There are a few small stops sometimes, but this was something completely new. And we hear the screeching of metal, and it smells burnt and people are screaming, says Mikael in the interview with TV4’s Efter fem.
They feel how they are pressed against the stirrups when there is a cross stop. Karin sees how parts come loose from the cart and panic sets in.
– Then I get scared, she says and adds that it all happens very quickly.
– I felt deathly afraid at the time and thought that now it will end badly, Mikael agrees.
“I’m falling out, help!”
The carriage now leans heavily to the side and forward. Then suddenly the jumpers go up.
– Karin looks at me and says “I’m falling out, help!” says Mikael and continues:
– Nothing holds us down anymore. Karin is about to fall out and I reach for her and try to grab her arms.
He looks at Karin who continues:
– I felt you grab me, I didn’t have time to think much but understood that now I was going to fall. And falling happens in a matter of seconds. Landing is also fast but it’s a little worse.
“People are screaming”
But it was lucky that Mikael reached for Karin, that dampened the fall somewhat. At the same time, Mikael lands on the steel beam below:
– It’s just pure luck that I land on it. I get stuck there and I manage to hold on and pull myself up and sit on the beam, he says and continues:
– People scream and I look down and see that you are lying on the hill and have landed on a patch of grass, luckily. Your face is bloody and I see you wailing.
His first instinct was to climb down, but he remained seated on the beam and watched as two privates helped his wife to the ground below. Mikael is later helped down from the beam by the fire brigade, while Karin is flown by ambulance helicopter to Nya Karolinska.
– It took a long time before I got word that she was even alive.
Three major operations
A total of eleven people were on board the Jetline ride when the train partially derailed on June 25 this year. Three people fell limply to the ground. A 35-year-old woman died and nine people were injured.
Mikael managed with minor injuries, while Karin had to undergo three major operations for her more serious injuries.
– I had broken both legs in a couple of places and then I had broken both wrists. I broke my nose and my jaw was completely off. And then a few ribs and a scapula crack, says Karin.
Planning to ride the roller coaster again
Karin is grateful for the care she received and has been given a good prognosis. Nine months to a year after the accident, she is expected to be able to walk again. The couple now sees the future brightly and does not feel anger after what happened.
They even plan to ride the roller coaster again, maybe even at Gröna Lund. But the doctor has said that they have to wait until next year.
– I rode when I was younger and when you fall off you have to jump back up, so you don’t get scared. We have planned to live as usual, says Karin.
They have previously lived an adventurous life and plan to continue it.
– We have a positive attitude towards life from the beginning and we want to keep it. It could have been even worse, it was still a woman who died and many were injured. I’m still happy that I can sit here with Karin today, says Mikael.
See the full interview about the Gröna Lund accident on TV4 Play
See Tilde de Paula Eby’s Efter fem interview with the couple Karin and Mikael Elmegard who sat in the carriage that derailed at Gröna Lund.
The investigation is ongoing
The police investigation is now led by the national unit for environmental and work environment cases at the Public Prosecutor’s Office. At the same time, the Swedish Work Environment Agency is also investigating the incident with a focus on the staff. The National Accident Commission also has an ongoing technical investigation of the train, among other things. The purpose of the investigation is to submit safety recommendations to Gröna lund so that this does not happen again.
The prosecutor who investigated the accident has confirmed that the locking bracket on the roller coaster’s carriage released when the train braked. Those affected fell out of their seats, which should not be possible if the functionality of the locking braces works as it should. The National Accident Commission has also established that the wheels at the front of the Jetline fell off. The investigation has also shown that the train that derailed had recently been inspected without any complaints.