Six Flags To Reopen Coaster Wednesday

ATLANTA -- Georgia Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond announced on Tuesday that the Batman roller coaster at Six Flags Over Georgia will be re-opened Wednesday morning. The ride has been closed since a teen was struck and killed beneath the ride on Saturday.

Thurmond said the Safety Engineering Division of the Department of Labor had issued recommendations in three areas regarding the ride -- security, signage and fencing.

The Labor Department recommended that security officers should be stationed in the area of the ride until increased signage and fencing could be put in place. The existing signage, the Labor Department found, does meat state and national standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials. However, the Labor Department suggested the number and size of the signs should be increased; additionally, it was suggested the signs should include the words "Extreme Danger."

Finally, the Labor Department said the existing fencing around the ride meets state and national standards. But they recommended that given the significant hazard to "unauthorized individuals" entering the area of the ride, that additional fencing that proves a "more effective barrier to their access" should be erected around the ride.

Asia Ferguson, 17, and another teen scaled two 6-foot fences surrounding the roller coaster, and were walking beneath it when Ferguson was struck and decapitated by one of the cars as it sped by. Ferguson was at the amusement park with a church group from South Carolina.