Carowinds Ride Closed After Ky. Accident

Jun 22, 09:35 PM

Current Headlines: By Greg Lacour, The Charlotte Observer, N.C.

Jun. 22--A popular ride at Carowinds has been temporarily shut down for inspection after an accident involving a similar ride in Kentucky sliced off a girl's feet.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. of Sandusky, Ohio, closed the Drop Zone Stunt Tower at Carowinds and rides at four other amusement parks "as a precautionary measure," the company said in a release today. It's unclear how long the ride will be closed, said park spokesman Scott Anderson.

State inspectors were at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville to examine the Superman Tower of Power, where the accident happened. The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 mph.

It was unclear at what point in the ride the 13-year-old was injured Thursday, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman. The girl was taken to a hospital, where her condition was not immediately available today.

The 11-year-old Drop Zone at Carowinds is similar, lifting passengers 160 feet in open-air transports before dropping them at speeds reaching 56 mph.

Cedar Fair also shut down its drop tower rides at Kings Island near Cincinnati; Canada's Wonderland, in Toronto; Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va.; and Great America in Santa Clara, Calif.

Six Flags shut down similar rides at parks in St. Louis; Gurnee, Ill.; and near Washington, Goldberg said. She said Six Flags Over Texas, near Dallas, also has a Superman Tower of Power, but it is not the same ride.

There had been no reports of injuries on the ride before Thursday, she said: "Millions of people have safely ridden this ride in our parks."

Intamin AG, a Swiss company, made all the rides but did not supply all the parts, said Sandor Kernacs, president of the company's American operations, Intamin Ltd. in Glen Burnie, Md.

Brett Barroquere of the associated press contributed.

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