LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Further autopsy tests are planned on a 4-year-old boy who died Monday afternoon after losing consciousness on a Walt Disney World thrill ride that simulates a space mission.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office said Daudi Bamuwamye of Sellersville, Pa., was carried off the Mission: Space ride by his mother and later was pronounced dead at a hospital near the Orlando attraction.

"The youngster had no signs of trauma," says Jim Solomons, an Orange County Sheriff's Office public information officer. "The consensus or guess based on experience says there's got to be some underlying medical issue. At this point, we're not aware of any, and we're relying on the postmortem."

An autopsy Tuesday showed no trauma so further tests will be conducted, and a cause of death may not be known for several weeks, said Sheri Blanton, a spokeswoman for the Medical Examiner's Office in Orlando.

Solomons said an inspection of the ride by sheriff's office personnel and Disney workers turned up "nothing broken."

The $100 million ride in the Epcot area of Disney World was closed after the boy's death but was reopened Tuesday.

"We believe the ride is safe in its current configuration," Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Polak said. More than 8.6 million visitors have gone on Mission: Space since 2003, Polak said.

The interactive attraction -- including motion-sickness bags -- is designed to make riders feel as if they're blasting off on a trip to Mars. Riders say it feels like being in a centrifuge and experiencing twice the force of gravity.

Since the ride's debut in 2003, seven riders -- six aged 55 or older -- have reported nausea, chest pain or other ailments, says Allan Harrison, operations manager at the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection at the Florida Department of Agriculture. "That's more than any other ride at theme parks in the state," he says.

The ride isn't inspected by the state. Disney is exempt because it has more than 1,000 employees and a full-time safety program, says Rob Jacobs, chief of the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection.

Disney must file an annual affidavit stating that park workers have inspected the ride and that it meets state standards. Disney last filed for Mission: Space in June 2004 and is due to file again this week.

The 4-year-old was allowed on the ride because he met a 44-inch height minimum, says the sheriff's office. A sign at the ride entrance cautions that the ride is "intense" and may cause dizziness and motion sickness.

Disney World issued a statement that said: "We are saddened by this highly unusual event. Our first concern is for the family, and we are doing everything we can to help them during this difficult time."

One other fatality was reported at Disney World this year, Jacobs says. A 77-year-old woman who had diabetes and other ailments died in February after riding the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction at the Magic Kingdom.

Meanwhile, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports 64 deaths on U.S. amusement rides from 1987 through June 2004. Data from 2002 through 2004 is incomplete.

Contributing: Mike Schneider, Associated Press

Copyright C 2005 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.