6 Flags, Cedar Fair Shut Down 9 Thrill Rides after Accident in Ky.

June 25, 2007

Six Flags and Cedar Fair shut down eight more thrill rides around North America on Friday after a teenage girl's feet were sliced off during a ride in Kentucky.

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State inspectors were at the Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom to examine the Superman Tower of Power, where the accident happened June 21. The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then drops them nearly the same distance at speeds reaching 54 mph.

A cable broke loose on the ride, striking the 13-year-old girl in the legs said Bill Clary, a spokesman for the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, which inspects amusement park rides. Clary said inspectors don't know what caused the cable to break.

"We're going to go where the evidence takes us,'' he said.

It was unclear at what point in the ride the girl was injured, said Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman. No information on the girl's name and condition has been released.

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