A 42-year-old Georgia father and schoolteacher plunged to his death from a 200-foot roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia on Monday, with the horrifying incident reportedly captured by the ride’s souvenir cameras as stunned passengers watched him fall from his seat.

The victim, identified as Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, was riding the Goliath roller coaster alongside his son when he was apparently thrown from the ride during its final descent. His wife and daughter were watching from the ground when the tragedy unfolded at the amusement park in Austell, outside Atlanta.

Witnesses described scenes of panic as Kariem reportedly struck other passengers and parts of the coaster before falling to the ground near a haunted house attraction. Several riders said they were splattered with blood, while others described seeing images of the fatal incident displayed among the photographs ordinarily offered to guests as souvenirs.

“He’s in our Goliath pictures,” one shaken witness told Atlanta television station WXIA. “The picture that they take and that you keep.”

The coaster’s automated cameras apparently photographed the precise moment Kariem was thrown from his seat. Images circulating online appeared to show a passenger outside the ride’s seating area, although the authenticity of those pictures has not been independently established.

One woman who was aboard the coaster described how Kariem allegedly struck another passenger before falling.

“He hit a girl two rows in front of us on the Goliath ride right where the pictures are taken,” she told WXIA.

“His blood splattered over everybody, and his body fell behind one of the haunted attractions.”

Investigators have not yet established exactly how Kariem became separated from his seat or whether a malfunction involving the restraint system contributed to the fatal incident.

Fellow passenger Fred Sowemimo told NBC that Kariem’s safety restraint appeared to have come loose moments before he was ejected.

According to Sowemimo, the safety belt “dislodged” and “he flew out.”

He said the photographs taken by the ride’s cameras showed the victim outside his seat and coming into contact with another passenger.

“You can see images of the person out of the seat,” Sowemimo said. “You can see him on the girl on her row.”

The incident was so unexpected that some passengers initially struggled to understand what they were witnessing.

“We initially thought it was a prank,” said Sowemimo’s wife, Vanessa.

Another witness, Logan Conner, said he and his fiancée were close enough to see Kariem as he began to rise out of his seat.

The couple “made direct eye contact with him,” Conner recalled, describing how the passenger “started levitating in the air sideways.”

Other guests described the sudden transformation of an ordinary amusement park outing into a scene of terror.

“It went from having a great time to just screaming, ‘Oh my God, what is happening,’” one passenger recalled.

“You don’t see things like this happen. It should never happen,” said another woman who had been riding alongside her husband.

Cobb County police confirmed that the incident occurred at approximately 3:58 p.m. Monday. Officers assigned to the amusement park responded and discovered Kariem beneath the roller coaster, unconscious and not breathing.

The department’s Major Crimes Unit was summoned to investigate. Preliminary interviews with witnesses and park employees confirmed that Kariem had been ejected from the ride and struck other passengers before falling beneath the attraction.

Four additional people were reported injured in the incident. Authorities have not disclosed the severity of their injuries or whether they required hospitalization.

The Goliath roller coaster, which rises 200 feet above the ground and reaches speeds of approximately 70 miles per hour, is the tallest roller coaster in Georgia. The ride has operated at Six Flags Over Georgia since 2006.

Following the fatal accident, the attraction was immediately shut down, leaving passengers stranded on an elevated section of the track while emergency personnel worked to evacuate them.

Rescuers used an emergency stairway alongside the coaster to bring riders down in groups of four, a process captured by television news helicopters flying over the park.

Investigators from the Georgia Office of the Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner have joined local police in examining the incident, including whether a mechanical defect, restraint-system failure, operator error or another factor contributed to Kariem’s death.

Some passengers have reported concerns about the ride’s restraints, including accounts of unusual clicking sounds before the accident. Authorities have not determined whether those observations were connected to the fatality.

The tragedy has prompted Six Flags Entertainment to temporarily suspend operations on nine similar roller coasters at six parks in the United States and Canada while safety reviews are conducted.

The closures include other attractions that share characteristics with Goliath, as the company and safety investigators assess whether the circumstances of the accident could present risks elsewhere.

The Swiss ride manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard, which designed Goliath, is also examining the incident.

Kariem worked at Wesley International Academy, an Atlanta charter school, where he served as an information technology manager. School officials remembered him as a valued member of their community whose death has deeply affected colleagues and students.

The fatal accident has also shaken the amusement park industry. Shares of Six Flags Entertainment fell sharply Tuesday, dropping to levels not seen since 2009 as investors reacted to the tragedy and the widespread ride closures.

Six Flags said it was cooperating with investigators and providing assistance to guests and employees affected by the incident.

“Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the guest’s family, friends, and loved ones,” a company spokesperson said.

Authorities have not announced a definitive cause of the accident. The Cobb County Police Department is asking anyone with information about the incident to contact its Major Crimes Unit as the investigation continues.