Current:Home > InvestA roller coaster was shut down after a crack was found in a support beam. A customer says he spotted it. -VisionFunds
A roller coaster was shut down after a crack was found in a support beam. A customer says he spotted it.
View
Date:2025-04-26 07:23:06
An amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina, closed one of its roller coasters Friday after a crack was found on a support beam.
Carowinds shut down Fury 325, which the park's website advertises as the "tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America" that crosses into both North Carolina and South Carolina.
Video of the ride showed the crack in the beam as cars packed with riders whizzed by.
Park patron Jeremy Wagner told CBS Charlotte, N.C. affiliate WBTV he was the one who spotted the crack and took the video.
He said he was waiting for his kids to finish one last ride on the coaster when, "I look up and I see a light come through the pole."
When the next car came by, he pulled out his phone and videoed it.
Wagner told WBTV what he saw when he played it back sent a shock through his chest.
"When the car came by," he said, "I saw (the beam) move."
Posted by Jeremy Wagner on Friday, June 30, 2023
(Credit: Jeremy Wagner via Storyful)
He told The New York Times that as he was shooting the video, "My hands were shaking because I knew how quick this could be catastrophic."
Wagner told WBTV he immediately showed the video to park security to have them shut the ride but didn't get a clear answer on whether park officials would. But Wagner eventually called the fire department and learned that his video did indeed prompt the shutdown of the Fury.
"My heart was like relieved because I was just afraid ... are they gonna do the right thing? I just didn't want to see something bad happen," he remarked to WBTV.
"It takes one time, just one time" for tragedy to strike, he said.
Tiffany Collins Newton told CBS News that on June 24, she took a photo that appeared to show "the beginnings of the crack" on the roller coaster. She said she did not notice the crack until after the ride was closed on Friday and she zoomed in on her recent photos.
The park said in a statement that it shut the ride "after park personnel became aware of a crack at the top of a steel support pillar. The park's maintenance team is conducting a thorough inspection and the ride will remain closed until repairs have been completed. Safety is our top priority and we appreciate the patience and understanding of our valued guests during this process.
"As part of our comprehensive safety protocols," the statement continued, "all rides, including Fury 325, undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity."
Fury 325 first opened to the public in 2015 and cost approximately $30 million to build, according to news reports.
Carowinds didn't say how long repairs would take. The rest of the park will remain open.
State officials said they were going to inspect the ride Monday.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Toyota to invest $922 million to build a new paint facility at its Kentucky complex
- A Christmas rush to get passports to leave Zimbabwe is fed by economic gloom and a price hike
- Dixie Chicks Founding Member Laura Lynch Dead at 65 After Car Crash
- How Mexican nuns saved a butcher's business and a Christmas tradition
- 'Malcolm in the Middle’ to return with new episodes featuring Frankie Muniz
- UFO or balloon? Unidentified object spotted over Air Force One may have simple explanation
- Pete Davidson's standup comedy shows canceled through early January 2024
- A man is killed and a woman injured in a ‘targeted’ afternoon shooting at a Florida shopping mall
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Colombia says it will try to retrieve treasures from holy grail of shipwrecks, which may hold cargo worth billions
Ranking
- Former longtime South Carolina congressman John Spratt dies at 82
- 'Bless this home' signs, hard candies, wine: What tweens think 30-somethings want for Christmas
- A rebel attack on Burundi from neighboring Congo has left at least 20 dead, the government says
- Christmas Eve worshippers to face security screening at Cologne cathedral as police cite attack risk
- The FBI should have done more to collect intelligence before the Capitol riot, watchdog finds
- Mali recalls its envoy in Algeria after alleging interference, deepening tensions over peace efforts
- Kourtney Kardashian Reveals First Photos of Baby Rocky With Travis Barker
- Woman who was shot in the head during pursuit sues Missississippi’s Capitol Police
Recommendation
$73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
NFL owners created league's diversity woes. GMs of color shouldn't have to fix them.
First child flu death of season reported in Louisiana
Iowa won’t participate in US food assistance program for kids this summer
What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
A pro-peace Russian presidential hopeful is blocked by the election commission
Strong earthquake in northwest China that killed at least 148 causes economic losses worth millions
France completes military withdrawal from Niger, leaving a gap in the terror fight in the Sahel