ORLANDO, Fla. – A federal investigation has been launched into the three fatal accidents that have occurred at Disney World in Orlando in the past seven weeks.
Agents from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the theme park Wednesday, two days after a performer in a long-running Disney stunt show died during rehearsals.
Anislav Varbanov, 30, was pronounced dead late Monday night at the hospital after suffering a neck injury while rehearsing a tumbling roll for the "The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular."
Varbanov reportedly landed on the mat but broke his neck when he fell.
"We might need a helicopter," a breathless male caller told a 911 dispatcher Monday evening. "We have a tumbler, he did a dive roll, he landed on his neck. He is lying on his back right now. We're stabilizing him. I don't know if he can feel anything."
The accident happened a week after a 47-year-old performer died following an onstage fall during another show, "Captain Jack's Pirate Tutorial."
On July 5, a 21-year-old monorail operator was killed when another train crashed into the one he was driving.
The Indiana Jones show, which cast members call "Epic," has performers demonstrating stunts done in the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movies.
It runs several times a day at Disney World's Hollywood Studios and was first performed in 1989.
A Disney representative said Varbanov was going over a common acrobatic move that has been part of the show since its inception in which the stuntman jumps into the air, dives over another performer, tucks and then rolls onto the ground.
"There's hydraulics involved, there's explosives involved and everyone is really on top of their game," Vince Rango, a former stuntman with the show, told MyFOXOrlando.com. "It's very hot out there, the costumes are heavy and for my cast alone we did five shows a day, five days a week."
Disney said the park is reviewing its training procedures and investigating Varbanov's death.
Cast members from the show have been injured in the past.
A year after it opened, OSHA fined Disney $1,000 when three people were hurt on stage because of malfunctioning equipment.
Click here for more on this story from MyFOXOrlando.com.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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