2 Employees Suspended After Monorail Accident

goofy101 · #1 (**permalink**) 07-09-2009, 02:59 PM

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Walt Disney World has taken disciplinary action against two employees believed to be involved in coordinating monorail switching at the time of Sunday's fatal crash, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation.

According to the two sources, including one with Disney, the theme park has suspended two employees without pay in the wake of the incident.

One employee suspended is the on-duty manager who WESH 2 News first reported Wednesday was at a Lake Buena Vista restaurant relaying instructions via two-way radio when the crash happened.

The monorail central coordinator had gone home sick Sunday, which is why the manager was handling those duties by radio.

A maintenance person taking switching instructions on the other end of the radio was also suspended, sources close to the investigation told WESH 2.

A former monorail driver WESH 2 News talked to said despite the manager not being on site, the two monorail pilots involved and another person equipped with a manual kill switch still should have known the trains were on a collision course.

A report released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board said the victim Austin Wuennenberg, 21, did stop his train and try to back up in an apparent attempt to avoid the train coming right at him.

The NTSB also indicated in its report mechanical error does not appear to be at the root of the switching malfunction, but it's unclear who or what is.

A Disney spokeswoman won't confirm any details but said they are continuing to cooperate with the investigating agencies.

2 Employees Suspended In Wake Of Disney Crash - Orlando News Story - WESH Orlando