Posted July 28, 2017 18:03:01

An 18-year-old killed when a thrill ride broke apart at a US fair was a high school student who had just signed up to be a marine.

Tyler Jarrell was thrown about 15 metres when the Fire Ball ride at the Ohio State Fair malfunctioned, flinging riders — some still strapped in their seats — through the air.

The 18-year-old's girlfriend, Keziah Lewis, was among seven others who were badly injured.

The Marine Corps and school officials said Mr Jarrell had enlisted last week and was going to begin basic training after his high school graduation next year.

"That was just this past Friday. Then he goes to the state fair and he is involved in this horrible tragedy. It's just devastating," Captain Gerard Lennon Jr, a naval science instructor in the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Jarrell's high school, said.

Captain Lennon said the teenager had been interested in going into the service or law enforcement for quite a while.

Photo: Manufacturers of the Fire Ball said none of these other rides has had a serious malfunction. (AP: Jay LaPrete)

Federal and state investigators have begun working to find what caused the wreck on Wednesday, the fair's opening day.

The injured ranged in age from 14 to 42 years. At least two were listed in critical condition.

Ms Lewis' mother Clarissa Williams told local reporters her daughter did not remember the accident and had pelvis, ankle and rib injuries.

Ms Lewis, a University of Cincinnati student, underwent one surgery and faces a second.

"She kept asking for her boyfriend," Ms Williams said.

"I had to tell her he was the one who was deceased."

Dutch manufacturers KMG, who made the ride, said the Fire Ball at the Ohio fair was built in 1998.

According to KMG, 43 of the same rides are in use around the world, 11 of them in the United States, and none have previously had a serious malfunction.

The company has told operators of the attraction to cease use until more is learned about what caused the malfunction.

All rides at the fair are checked several times when they are being set up to ensure the work is done the way the manufacturer intended, said the fair's Agriculture Director David Daniels.

Michael Vartorella, Ohio's chief inspector of amusement ride safety, said the Fire Ball was inspected three or four times before the fair opened.

Amusements of America, the company that provides rides to the state fair, said its staff also had inspected the ride before it opened.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission is also investigating.

It estimated there were 30,900 injuries associated with amusement attractions last year that required an emergency room visit, and at least 22 fatalities associated with amusement attractions since 2010.

The Ohio State Fair, which remained open Thursday, is one of the biggest state fairs in the US. It drew 900,000 people last year.

AP

Topics: disasters-and-accidents, united-states