Earlier this week, we reported on the terrifying incident at Alton Towers which left a number of people seriously injured, and now four major theme park rides across the UK have been closed.

 

A number of people were left with serious injuries following the incident on The Smiler and now Merlin Entertainments, the firm who owns Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventure, has also closed  Saw – The Ride - a similar rollercoaster at Thorpe Park.

 

Both The Smiler and Saw will stay shut “for the foreseeable future”.

 

Two other rides, Colossus and Stealth, were also closed at Thorpe although they were closed for “unrelated” reasons.

 

The Dragon’s Fury and Rattlesnake at Chessington World of Adventure in Surrey were also closed following Tuesday's incident.

 

 

According to the Express, all rides will remain out of service while “an additional set of safety protocols” are brought in.

 

Talking to Sky News, Nick Varney, head of Merlin Entertainments, said the rides closed at Thorpe Park and Chessington were not "unsafe before" and the upgrades were merely an "additional layer on top of already stringent safety standards".

 

Altons Towers, which has remained closed since the terrifying crash, will apparently open again in a few days.

 

Nick Varney, head of Merlin Entertainments, who described the incident at Alton Towers as a "harrowing experience for everyone involved", revealed he doesn’t know what happened on Tuesday, saying: "Something went badly wrong to The Smiler and we don't yet know the reasons for it yet".

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