Two teenagers died after falling from a bungee jumping ride in full view of shocked spectators and relatives, following a catastrophic choice by the business owners. The tragedy occurred on 10 August 1993 at the Beach Bungee attraction in Atlantic Beach, South Carolina, USA.
The Victims and the Ride
The victims were 17-year-old Zachary Steinke and 19-year-old Michael Nash, an employee working as the attraction's 'bungee jump master'. The ride featured a 175-foot steel arch designed to lift participants inside an elevator-style cage. That evening, as the pair were raised to a height of roughly 150 to 160 feet within the steel structure, the cage suddenly plummeted to the ground.
Zachary's parents were watching from the ground and had to look on in horror as their son fell to his death. They attempted CPR before emergency services arrived, but both teens suffered catastrophic impact injuries and died at the scene.
Faulty Equipment and Safety Bypass
Investigations revealed that the ride's original chain-driven hoist mechanism was faulty. Rather than fixing the defect with a proper identical replacement part, the owners had chosen to install an improvised commercial shrimping winch alongside a wire cable. These items were not fit for purpose.
That day was particularly wet and rainy, reducing visibility. The wire rope was unable to handle the load and snapped after being strained. Attorney for the families John Kassel explained: 'Without relieving the tension the cable would eventually fail and break. The scenario is well understood and actually has a name: two-blocking. Unfortunately, the bungee jump winch system had no safety devices of any kind. The system two-blocked. The cable ripped apart. The cage fell to the ground. Both boys were killed in front of a crowd of people, including the parents of one of the boys.'
Legal Battle and Verdict
After the tragedy, a legal battle ensued. Kassel, then a young lawyer, tried the case against the owners and the shrimper in federal court. He focused on finding individual liability rather than simply getting a verdict against a defunct corporation. In 1995, the families of the victims won a $12 million judgment against the individual owners of Beach Bungee. The court ruled the owners could be held personally liable because they bypassed safety systems by installing the faulty shrimping winch in a bid to avoid losing summer tourist business.
Kassel added: 'I tried a second case in state court against the South Carolina Department of Labor, the responsible regulatory agency. There, a major hurdle was overcoming multiple immunities enjoyed by the state. We received a $2 million verdict. The verdict was affirmed on appeal to the South Carolina Supreme Court. I became close to the families of both boys.'
