Mishap on Ocean City ride injures 5

Three adults and two children suffered minor injuries yesterday when the Canyon Falls Log Flume ride malfunctioned at an amusement park in Ocean City, police said.

One of the log boats improperly slid backward about 1 p.m. and hit another at Gillian's Wonderland Pier on the boardwalk, police said.

Those hurt were identified as Kimberly Aceto, 40, of Barrington, and Travis Lindenmoer, 27, and Danielle Summreil, 23, both of Lehighton, Pa.

A 9-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl were also injured, but police would not release their names, citing their ages.

The victims were taken to Shore Memorial Hospital in Somers Point. Four had been released by late afternoon, and the fifth was not expected to need to stay overnight, a nursing supervisor said.

The park remained open after the accident, but the Log Flume ride was closed. It will not restart until the New Jersey State Department of Community Affairs, which oversees amusement parks, determines what caused the accident, police said.

A woman answering the telephone at Gillian's Wonderland Pier said she would relay a reporter's call to the manager. No one from management returned the call. The Gillian family has operated the amusement park in Ocean City for 77 years, according to the park's Web site.

In the summer of 1999, a New Jersey woman and her 8-year-old daughter were killed at Gillian's Wonderland Pier when they were ejected from a different ride there.

They were on the former Wild Wonder roller coaster when their car plunged backward.

The state investigation concluded that the ride's anti-rollback device was flawed and that the victims were in a car with a defective lap bar.