The shocking incident occurred due to a decision made by the attraction’s owners on the Grand Strand in the North Myrtle Beach/Atlantic Beach area in South Carolina.
Two teenagers fell to their deaths while they were bungee jumping as the parents of one of them watched in horror.
The shocking incident occurred due to a decision made by the Beach Bungee attraction’s owners on the Grand Strand in the North Myrtle Beach/Atlantic Beach area of South Carolina in the United States.
One of the boys involved in the tragedy was 17-year-old Zachary Steinke, while the other was “bungee jump master” and Beach Bungee employee, Michael Nash, 19.
The attraction featured a 175-foot-tall archway which raised visitors in a cage, similar to a lift.
The two teenagers were lifted to around 150 to 160 feet inside the steel jump cage, completely unaware the original chain-driven lifting system was broken.
This was as the owners of Beach Bungee decided to replace the faulty system with a makeshift commercial shrimping which was used alongside a wire rope, instead of opting for a like-for-like replacement.
The system that was installed was not fit for purpose, leading to the shocking double death.
The evening of the incident, on August 10, 1993, was particularly wet and rainy, leading to reduced visibility as the cage was lifted into the sky.
The wire rope was unable to handle the load and, after being strained, it snapped, reports the Irish Mirror.
As a result, the cage plummeted 150 feet to the ground, leaving both Zachary and Michael with unsurvivable impact injuries. Zachary’s parents were among the crowd watching on as the tragedy unfolded, looking in horror as their son fell to his death before reportedly attempting CPR.
After the tragedy, a legal battle ensued. John Kassel, representing the families, explained in a post on the Kassel McVey site how the cable came to snap: “Without relieving the tension the cable would eventually fail and break.
“The scenario is well understood and actually has a name: two-blocking. Unfortunately, the bungee jump winch system had no safety devices of any kind. The system two-blocked.
“The cable ripped apart. The cage fell to the ground. Both boys were killed in front of a crowd of people, including the parents of one of the boys.”
He continued: “I was a young lawyer. I tried the case against the owners and the shrimper in federal court. One issue was to find individual liability and not simply get a verdict against a defunct corporation.”
Kassel was successful. In 1995, the families of the victims won a $12 million judgment against the individual owners of Beach Bungee.
The court ruled the owners could be held personally liable because they bypassed safety systems by installing the faulty shrimping winch in a bid to avoid losing summer tourist business.
But Kassel wasn’t done. He said: “I tried a second case in state court against the South Carolina Department of Labor, the responsible regulatory agency. There, a major hurdle was overcoming multiple immunities enjoyed by the state.
“We received a $2 million verdict. The verdict was affirmed on appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court. I became close to the families of both boys.”
