A woman who was in a rollercoaster accident that left one dead and nine injured has shared her recovery – one year on.
This weekend, she also got back on a ride for the first time (28-29 June).
When Karin Elmegard and her husband, Mikael, stepped onto the Jetline at Gröna Lund in Stockholm, they were shocked as part of the attraction came loose.
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Karin fell, breaking both her wrists and legs – with two bones sticking out from her right thigh – as well as breaking her jaw, nose and some ribs.
She also had a crack in her shoulder blade and a lacerated kidney, and received a “massive blow” to her lungs.
Meanwhile, her husband hit his head, knees and chest, and was left waiting for rescue six metres up in the air, on a support beam.
But the pair count themselves lucky to be alive.
A year on from the incident, which took place on 25 June 2023, Karin has just visited an amusement park in Gothenburg, Sweden.
“I have been horse riding for a substantial part of my life, so it is back up on the horse for us, in the form of going on a rollercoaster again,” the 50-year-old told Need To Know.
“[Before going to the amusement park this weekend], we felt a bit nervous but had prepared by checking the safety specs and watching a film of the rollercoaster.
“It was easier the second time around and it was definitely the right thing to do in order to be able to move on.
“At one point, the rollercoaster had the same tilt as at the accident.
‘We are glad that we could manage, as we don’t want the accident to define what we can do or limit us.”
Karin also recalls what happened on that fateful day.
She said: “People started to scream in panic.
“It was all very rickety and unstable.
“Mikael and I thought that ‘this is it’ [for us] – final destination, terminal.
“We were holding on hard to a rail bar in front of us but going 55 mph, that didn’t help much.
“Suddenly it all became even worse, as the wheelset on the righthand side of the front boogie, broke off.”
With ‘gold passes’ to Gröna Lund, the couple had visited many times over 10 years.
At the time of the accident, they had been preparing to go on a cruise to Iceland, Scotland, England and Ireland.
But with the sun shining, they decided to swing by the park first.
Karin said: “Already in the first downhill turn, something was obviously wrong.
“I fell out [from the wagon] a little bit later, with the train on six to eight meters height.
“There was nothing to hold onto. The train was tilting to one side.
“Mikael grabbed me under my arms and we both fell out.
“I landed on a tiny piece of grass amid a lot of hard things.
“It smelled intensely of grass. I had survived but was badly damaged, with lots of broken legs.
“A lady, and a firefighter on his day off, saw the fall and climbed a big fence to help me.
“I asked for Mikael, who had mysteriously disappeared. I feared he was dead.
“The two persons by my side pointed up and there he was, sitting on a support beam, six metres up in the air.”
Karin also witnessed a fellow passenger, a woman, dying from a fall.
Once rescued, Karin was flown to a trauma centre in an ambulance helicopter and spent three weeks in intensive care.
She said: “Mikael spent all his time by my side but he was badly shocked when he [first] saw me.
“I was intubated and in a medically induced coma to start with.
“He couldn’t get a clear answer of how it would all go for three weeks.
“I had to learn how to walk again, then how to walk on stairs etc.
“My first six steps were very challenging.
“It was like my feet had grown roots into the floor.”
Thanks to his background in martial arts, which helped Mikael, aged 54, lift himself onto the beam, he was “relatively” alright.
But he still had to go through seven weeks of rehab and struggled to stand on his knees for months, as well as had wounds that reached the bone on his shins.
Karin was forced to use a wheelchair for three months and then got around with a walker.
She’s recently been able to just use a cane and returned to work, part-time, in March.
But her rehab is still very much ongoing.
She added: “I train pilates and aqua aerobics.
“Now we are working on challenges like reaching the floor, sitting down and getting up again.
“The bones have healed, even the crushed ones.
“But there is a missing part of the right thigh muscle from the open break of the bones.”
Aside from their physical injuries, the couple were also left with mental scars.
They were given counselling at the hospital for several weeks but still feel uneasy at times, but are focusing on the future.
Karin added: “We both do not like the sound of helicopters, as we heard them when they kept bringing in new patients to the hospital.
“[But] the staff were really fantastic.
“We might want to go to Disney in the future.
“I would like to be able to go on the surf wave machine/flow ride simulator on the cruise ships again, and maybe horse ride.
“I really miss being able to really trust I could do most things and rely on that I could solve issues as they come along while doing adventurous things.
“And I very much look forward to ditching my cane.”
