An accident on the roller coaster attraction at the Oktoberfest - the traditional Beer Festival - in Munich left eight minor injuries, municipal authorities reported this Sunday. For reasons that have not yet been established, two trains had a collision, so the operation of the attraction nicknamed Höllenblitz (Hell's Beam) and known for its four loops, had to be interrupted.
Of the eight injured, six were treated at the scene by medical personnel and two were transferred to a hospital. The accident occurred at 10:10 p.m. on Saturday, a few hours after the folk festival opened.
Minor accidents are relatively common on the Oktoberfest roller coaster and are usually due to reckless behavior by people who have consumed excessive alcohol.
On this occasion, however, everything indicates that the accident was due to a technical problem that led to the train crash.
The Beer Festival, or Oktoberfest, or October Festival, as it is called despite being held in September in the Bavarian capital, offers, in parallel to the tents where the traditional one-liter vases and various typical foods are consumed, various attractions. About six million visitors are expected until October 3 during the world's largest folk festival, a third of whom are foreigners. It is estimated that the Munich Oktoberfest generates around 1.2 billion euros in economic benefits.
