RALEIGH, N.C.—An ongoing investigation by North Carolina’s Department of Labor found that a large crack in the support column of a towering roller coaster had been visible for at least a week before the amusement park shut it down for repairs.
“It looks like maybe six to 10 days prior, some pictures had been taken that shows the beginning of the crack, and then by obviously last Friday, the thing was completely severed,” Labor Commissioner Josh Dobson said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.
Charlotte-based Carowinds amusement park came under investigation this week after a video surfaced online of an operational roller coaster with a large crack in one of its columns. The footage of Fury 325, known as a “giga coaster” due to its dramatic height of 325 feet (99 meters), showed a key support beam bending with the top visibly detached as cars packed with unsuspecting passengers barreled by at speeds of up to 95 mph (150 kph.)…