The operator of a large Colorado theme park has filed for bankruptcy less than a year after being ordered to pay out over $205m in a wrongful-death case after the 2021 death of a six-year-old girl on a ride.
Wongel Estifanos died on 5 September 2021 after falling 110 feet from the Haunted Mine Drop ride at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park in Glenwood Springs, Colorado.
The attraction plunges riders down a vertical mine shaft, and the park closed for several days following the incident.
The wrongful‑death lawsuit filed after her death named both the park’s parent company, Glenwood Caverns Holdings Limited Liability Company, and the ride’s manufacturer, Soaring Eagle Incorporated, The Denver Post reported.
Glenwood Caverns Holdings submitted its Chapter 11 petition on Monday in the United States Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, the Aspen Times reports. The move follows a Garfield County jury’s finding that the park was partly responsible for the death.
Court records revealed the company had only around $5m in liability insurance – far below the size of the judgment issued in November.
The investigation into the incident revealed the five-year-old had not been strapped in correctly when the ride started. It emerged that two workers operating the ride had not been trained to identify an error related to the ride’s seat belts.
As a result, they neither noticed that the girl was sitting on the still-buckled seat belt, nor that the system had shown an error indicating the belt had not been undone following the previous ride. The girl had reportedly been holding only the seatbelt’s tail across her lap.
At the time the court ordered the payout, Glenwood Caverns said Soaring Eagle had manufactured the ride with “a defective restraint system that caused this heartbreaking accident” and had since worked with independent engineers to redesign and re-engineer it.
In a statement this week, Glenwood Caverns confirmed the bankruptcy filing but said the park will remain open. “The Chapter 11 process will allow Glenwood Caverns to continue operating while creating a structured, court‑supervised process that ensures fairness and transparency as it pursues reorganization,” the company said.
Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows a business to keep operating while it restructures its finances and temporarily halts most collection efforts from creditors.
The park also acknowledged the Estifanos family, saying the filing is intended to stabilize the business and protect its future. “We recognize the unimaginable loss of the Estifanos family,” the statement said.
“Our decision to pursue Chapter 11 is the most responsible path to stabilize the business, preserve operations and maintain value for the benefit of all parties.”
Park officials said daily operations and scheduled events will continue without interruption.
