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3rd July 2023
08:04am BST
A huge crack in the side of an amusement park ride was spotted by a visitor, leading to the ride being shut down.
Jeremy Wagner was visiting Carowinds in North Carolina when he noticed that the Fury 325 giga roller coaster had a crack in a support pillar.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Wagner told how he noticed the crack in the rollercoaster - described as the "tallest, fastest, longest giga coaster in North America" - and notified officials.
According to to CBS, a 911 call was also made by another parkgoer regarding the crack. Nobody has been injured as a result of the crack.
A spokesperson for the park told USA Today: "Carowinds closed Fury 325 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, all rides, including Fury 325, undergo daily inspections to ensure their proper functioning and structural integrity."
Video of the ride showed the support pillar moving out of place as Fury 325 passengers were on the roller coaster. Carowinds did not say how long repairs would take, but the rest of the park will remain open, USA Today reported.
The Fury reaches speeds of up to 95 mph and has a peak height of 325 feet, which is followed by a stomach-churning 81-degree drop.
According to reports, Wagner wasn't the first person to notice the crack on the ride's infrastructure.
Tiffany Collins Newton had taken a picture of it on June 24. But it was only when the ride was closed, that she looked back at her picture and noticed the crack.
She wrote on Facebook: "So about Fury… I haven’t been to the park since last Saturday, but I’ve always took photos from the parking lot of the skyline. I decided to look back and see if the crack was visible last week… well, it was.
"Of course I’ll ride it when it’s repaired. Things happen… I just hope this leads to more inspections and extensive safety checks in the future.
"Thank God nothing bad came of it and no one was injured before this was caught. Get well soon, Fury."
According to the Carolina Observer, Carowinds was named among Time magazine's best amusement parks in the country in 2018 and the Fury 325 recognised as the most exciting ride in the park. The ride opened in 2015, at a reported cost of $30 million, and is the fifth tallest in the world.
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