Report: Girl's riding alone on Ferris wheel likely led to her death

Had Abiah Jones not been riding alone on the Ferris wheel at Morey's Piers in Wildwood on June 3, she might not have fallen nearly five stories to her death, New Jersey state officials said in a report.

After investigating the fatal accident, the New Jersey Carnival and Amusement Ride Safety Unit recommended that a minimum of two people sit in each gondola on rides that reach high elevations, are not fully enclosed or allow riders to be unrestrained.

"The fact that Abiah Jones was alone in the gondola without any nearby passengers may have led her to take a risk that she would have been convinced not to take if there were other riders in the gondola," the amusement-oversight agency said in the report.

The report, released yesterday, said that investigators lacked eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage showing exactly how the 11-year-old from Pleasantville fell.

However, officials said that railings around the seat in the gondola make it nearly impossible for anyone who is seated properly to fall.

They said that riders kneeling, standing on the seat or leaning too far out of the Ferris wheel could fall if they lost their balance.

Investigators inspected every gondola and found no mechanical defects or malfunctions.

The amusement park mandates that children must be at least 54 inches tall and 10 years old to ride alone, as Jones was at the time.

The New Jersey Carnival and Amusement Ride Safety Unit said that the Giant Wheel has operated for more than 25 years without any serious accidents.