The roller coaster where a crack was located in the support pillar was close to a major incident, an amusement park ride safety expert tells Fox News Digital.
Jeremy Wagner, a visitor at the Carowinds amusement park in North Carolina, posted a video to Facebook on June 30 showing a crack in the Fury 325 giga roller coaster while people were on it. He notified amusement park officials, who temporarily closed the ride.
Ken Martin, an amusement park ride safety analyst and consultant, told Fox News Digital that the Fury 325 giga roller coaster was “no doubt in my mind” very close to a major incident.
“That’s the same thing that happened to the fireball incident at the Ohio State Fair a few years back,” Martin said. One person died in that incident, and seven others were injured when the Fireball ride at the Ohio State Fair broke apart on July 26, 2017.
Martin said that he believes the support pillar containing two pieces of metal were separated and previously welded together, adding that there was a rust problem.
“We all saw the video. We saw what it didn’t do. It didn’t support. And that’s, you know, it’s I can’t tell you how bad the rust problem is,” Martin said.
In an updated statement released on Thursday, a spokesperson for Carowinds amusement park said that Bolliger & Mabillard Consulting Engineers Inc., the manufacturer of the Fury 325 roller coaster, is fabricating a new column which will be delivered next week.
“Following the installation of the new column, and as part of our normal protocol for rides such as Fury 325, we will conduct an extensive series of tests to ensure the safety and integrity of the coaster,” the park said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “These will include an accelerometer test that uses sensors to measure any variation in the ride experience. After that, we plan to operate the ride for 500 full cycles, performing tests and inspections of the entire ride throughout that period.”
CAROWINDS AMUSEMENT PARK ANNOUNCES NEXT STEPS AFTER POTENTIALLY DEADLY ROLLER COASTER CRACK EXPOSED
The park will then hire a third-party inspection firm and B&M to conduct a final inspection on the ride, according to the statement.
“While we regularly inspect the coaster, we are planning to implement additional inspection procedures to ensure we are making every effort to promptly identify and address future potential issues. These new measures will include the regular use of drones outfitted with cameras to access and inspect hard-to-reach areas,” a park spokesperson said.
Records obtained by Fox News Digital show that the most recent North Carolina Department of Labor inspection of the Fury 325 ride was conducted on Feb. 23, and only minor issues relating to signage were found.
According to the amusement park’s website, Fury 325 is “the tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America.”
The roller coaster reaches speeds of up to 95 mph and has a peak height of 325 feet, which is followed by a “dramatic 81-degree drop.”
According to CBS 17, a 911 call was also received regarding the crack. No one was injured.
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