Woman in Zip Line Fall Unhooked Safety Line: Report

Tina Werner fell 35 feet at Delaware adventure park
By Linda Hervieux,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 26, 2016 8:15 AM CDT
Woman in Zip Line Fall Unhooked Safety Line: Report
An employee closes the Go Ape course following the death of a 59-year-old woman who fell from the platform on Wednesday afternoon.   (Kyle Grantham/The Wilmington News-Journal via AP)

Witnesses say a 59-year-woman who fell to her death at a Delaware zip line park "unfortunately disconnected herself from the safety system," says the park in a statement. Tina Werner plunged 35 feet from a platform at the Go Ape Tree Top Adventure at Lums Pond State Park on Wednesday afternoon. Police haven't confirmed the witness accounts, reports the Journal News, but the park statement notes "a full inspection of the course and safety equipment has been completed and it remains in sound operational condition." Werner’s daughter, Melissa Slater, tells the New York Daily News her mom was "full of love and adventure" and had recently traveled to Venice and gone hot air ballooning. Zip lining was another item on her bucket list.

"My mom died completing" that bucket list, Slater wrote on Facebook. "This is truly the hardest situation that I have ever faced. I ask for you prayers for my family." Werner, of Felton, was at the park with a friend. She completed one ride before her fall. Each zip line participant is fitted with climbing harnesses and two sets of ropes with carabiners that they clip to safety wires, reports the AP, which notes Werner had gone through safety training as required. Go Ape, which opened the Delaware park in 2013, has never seen a major accident at any of the company's 15 locations, a spokesman says. (This woman plunged 150-feet in a zip line fall.)

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