A roller coaster at an amusement park in Charlotte, NC, was shut down Friday after a visitor found a large crack in one of the ride’s pillars.
Carowinds amusement park said it closed the coaster, called Fury 325, “after park staff realized there was a crack at the end of a steel support pillar.”
The ride will remain closed while crews make repairs, Courtney McGarry Weber, a spokeswoman for the park, said. Erin Wilson, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Labor said Sunday that the Elevator and Amusement Device Bureau “will investigate and plan to go to Carowinds on Monday.”
Jeremy Wagner, who visited the park with his daughter, son, niece and his son’s friend on Friday, recorded a video of the crack.
The footage he recorded showed the pillar separating momentarily from the crack, as a coaster car zipped down the track.
“I tried to shoot the video, and my hands were shaking because I knew how quickly it could turn into a disaster,” Mr. Wagner said.
Mr. Wagner, who recently bought her children season passes for the park, said she recorded the damage from the parking lot. Her 14-year-old daughter rode eight times on Friday, she said.
At 325 feet long, the Fury 325 is one of the main attractions at Carowinds.
It can carry dozens of riders and send them barreling at speeds of up to 95 miles per hour during its more than 3-minute ride, according to the park’s website.
Carowinds bills the ride, which opened to the public in March 2015, as “the tallest giga coaster in North America.” Roller coasters with drops of 300 feet to 399 feet are known as giga coasters.
Mr. Wagner said he turned his footage over to park officials before he left on Friday but didn’t find out about the ride’s closure until he got home.
“I’m thankful they did that,” he said. “Even though that’s their No. 1 attraction in the park.”
The rest of Carowinds, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary, remains open Saturday and Sunday, according to the park’s website.