Rollercoaster nightmare at Madrid’s Warner Park as man is airlifted to hospital

For families spending the final days of summer at a theme park, a rollercoaster ride is supposed to mean excitement, not an emergency helicopter landing inside the grounds. But visitors at Warner Park Madrid saw the Batman Gotham City Escape ride stopped after a 49-year-old man was seriously injured in an accident, suffering fractures to both legs and requiring an airlift to hospital.

The incident happened at around 02:38pm on Saturday, August 29, at Warner Park in San Martín de la Vega, Madrid. The man was treated at the park before being flown to Madrid’s Hospital 12 de Octubre with injuries described by Madrid’s emergency services as “potentially serious”, however his life is not believed to be in danger. 

Emergency helicopter called to Warner Park

The man suffered an open fracture to his left leg and a closed fracture to his right leg, according to Emergencias 112 Comunidad de Madrid. Medical teams treated him at the scene before deciding that he needed to be transferred to hospital by helicopter for further assessment. Guardia Civil and Policía Local officers also attended the theme park following the accident.

The precise circumstances of what happened remain unclear. Authorities have not established how the man was injured, and the investigation into the incident is continuing.  Some witness accounts have described the man slipping from his seat and becoming trapped between parts of the ride. However, that version has not been established by authorities as the confirmed cause of the accident. Reports differ on the circumstances, so the official position remains that an accident occurred and its cause is being investigated. 

Batman ride immediately stopped

Warner Park said the Batman Gotham City Escape stopped immediately after the incident and that its emergency procedures were activated. The attraction has now been closed while it is reviewed in coordination with the authorities. The park itself has continued operating, although reports indicate that visitors were removed from the immediate area around the ride and nearby businesses were temporarily closed during the emergency response. 

For people still inside the park when the incident happened, the response turned an afternoon of rides and entertainment into a very different, nerve-racking scene, with emergency services arriving at the attraction and a helicopter being used to evacuate the injured man. The authorities will now have to establish exactly what happened before the ride can return to operation.

One of Spain’s fastest roller coasters

Batman Gotham City Escape is one of  Warner Park’s major attractions and opened in 2023 as Spain’s first multi-launch rollercoaster. The ride reaches 45 metres in height and includes a 98-degree drop, several inversions and multiple high-speed launches. It can exceed 100 kilometres per hour, making it one of the most intense attractions at the Madrid theme park. 

Its design is built around Batman’s Gotham City universe, with the ride combining high-speed launches, steep drops and inversions into a route lasting just under two minutes. The technical characteristics of the attraction will now form part of the wider examination of what happened, although there is currently no official indication that a mechanical failure caused the injury.

Investigation continues

The Guardia Civil and Policía Local attended the scene, while the attraction remains closed pending review. Warner Park has said it activated its emergency procedures immediately and is cooperating with the authorities while the incident is examined.  There is currently no confirmed explanation for how the 49-year-old sustained the injuries to both legs.

Until investigators establish what happened, claims about a fall, a problem with the restraints or a mechanical fault should not be treated as confirmed. The man’s injuries are significant, particularly the open fracture to his left leg, but emergency services have confirmed that his condition is potentially serious rather than immediately life-threatening. He remains under medical care at Hospital 12 de Octubre.

Not the first incident at the park

The incident also comes years after a separate fatal accident at Parque Warner. In 2005,  a 23-year-old man died after suffering a serious head injury on the Hotel Embrujado attraction, an indoor illusion/dark ride where passengers sit in a stationary-looking carriage while the room and carriage move in opposing directions, creating the sensation that the riders and surroundings are rotating or tilting. Warner park itself describes it as a “Mad House” attraction and says it combines optical and motorised effects to disorient visitors.

The accident happened during the mechanical section of the attraction. Visitors were seated on tiered seating and restrained by a safety bar. According to the park’s account at the time, the 22-year-old stood up after suffering a panic attack and was struck in the head. His family disputed that account and said the restraint could be raised and that the attraction did not stop.

For now, the focus is on establishing what happened on Batman Gotham City Escape and why the visitor suffered such severe injuries. The attraction will remain closed while that work is carried out while the rest of  Warner Park continues to operate.