Five injured in ride accident at North Carolina State Fair

Five people were injured when a carnival ride at the North Carolina State Fair suddenly started back up as riders were exiting, authorities said late Thursday.

The incident happened 11 years to the day since a worker was killed by a ride at the fair in Raleigh, federal records show.

Wake County Sheriff Donnie Harrison stressed that it was too early to know why the Vortex, a pendulum-swing thrill ride, jolted back to a start about 9:17 p.m. ET.

NBC station WNCN cited an EMS source as saying five passengers were ejected while trying to exit the ride. Two of the five people injured were seriously hurt, officials said.

The victims, who ranged in age from 14 to 39, were being treated at the WakeMed Medical campus in Raleigh, a hospital spokeswoman told NBC News. As of early Friday morning, two of the victims had been released and three remained in the hospital.

Caleb Norris, a witness, told WNCN that he heard a crashing sound just after he got off the ride, which spins, twirls and flips passengers upside down.

Norris said he turned around and saw two people face down. The ride's operator then fell to his knees crying, he said.

Alison Blevins / WNCN-TV

The fair offers two rides called the Vortex, one of which opened just this year. The accident occurred on that ride, said Brian Long, a spokesman for the fair.

NBC News reported in July that at least 17 states don't regulate amusement park rides. North Carolina does, however, and Dolores Quesenberry, a spokeswoman for the state Labor Department, said the Vortex is inspected for safety three times a day during the annual fair.

Records on file with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration indicate that Thursday's incident occurred exactly 11 years after a worker was killed by a ride at the same fair.

On Oct. 24, 2002, a man was killed when the gondola of a different pendulum-style attraction, the Banzai, struck him in the head. The investigation found that the man slipped when a co-worker started up the ride while he was working on its music system, and the man fell into the gondola's path.

NBC News' Daniel Arkin, Becky Bratu and Justin Kirschner and news3blog.blogspot.com contributed to this report.

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