She Just Tumbled': Woman Falls to Her Death on Six Flags Roller Coaster (UPDATED)

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Investigators will try to determine Saturday if a woman who died while riding a roller coaster at a Six Flags amusement park in North Texas fell from the ride dubbed the tallest steel-hybrid coaster in the world after not being properly secured by staff, as some witnesses accounts contend.

Patrons leave Six Flags Over Texas park as the Texas Giant roller coaster was shut down after an adult woman fell to her death Friday, July 19, 2013 in Arlington, Texas. (AP)

While that question appears yet to answered, an Arlington police sergeant confirmed Saturday that the woman indeed fell from the ride and there appears to have been no foul play.

He says police, fire and emergency medical services responded to the park around 6:45 p.m. Friday in reference to a woman who had fallen from a train car while riding a roller coaster. He says she was pronounced dead at the scene.

She had been riding the Texas Giant. Dubbed the tallest steel-hybrid coaster in the world, it reaches 14 stories high, drops 79 degrees and banks 95 degrees.

The accident happened just after 6:30 p.m. Friday at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington. Witnesses told local media outlets that the woman fell.

"She goes up like this. Then when it drops to come down, that's when it (the safety bar) released and she just tumbled," Carmen Brown of Arlington told The Dallas Morning News. Brown said she was waiting in line to get on the ride when the accident happened.

Brown said she also witnessed the woman being strapped into the ride.

"They didn't secure her right. One of the employees from the park - one of the ladies - she asked her to click her more than once, and they were like, `As long you heard it click, you're OK.' Everybody else is like, `Click, click, click.' Hers only clicked once. Hers was the only one that went down once, and she didn't feel safe, but they let her still get on the ride."

Six Flags expressed sadness over the death and said it was temporarily closing the section of the park around the accident site. It didn't say how long the area would be closed. A message left for Parker by The Associated Press was not returned.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends during this difficult time," the park's statement said.

The Texas Giant reaches 14 stories high and has a drop of 79 degrees and a bank of 95 degrees. It can carry up to 24 riders. The ride first opened in 1990 as an all-wooden coaster but underwent a $10 million renovation in 2010 to install steel-hybrid rails before reopening in 2011.

Brown said she was next in line behind the woman and saw her being strapped into her seat next to her son.

"We heard her screaming. We were like, `Did she just fall?'" Brown said.

Arlington police Sgt. Christopher Cook, the department spokesman, referred all questions to Parker. No other details were available.

In another amusement park accident Friday, a boat on an Ohio thrill ride accidentally rolled backward down a hill and flipped over in water when the ride malfunctioned, injuring all seven people on it. Operators stopped the Shoot the Rapids water ride after the accident, which occurred on the ride's first hill, the Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, said.

In 1999, a 28-year-old Arkansas woman drowned and 10 other passengers were injured when a raft-like boat on the Roaring Rapids ride at Six Flags overturned in 2 to 3 feet of water about 200 feet from the end of the ride.

Six Flags Over Texas opened in 1961 as the first amusement park in the Six Flags system. It is 17 miles west of downtown Dallas.

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