Rollercoaster breakdown leaves riders dangling in horror recue | US | News

Emergency crews rushed to the aid of theme park visitors Thursday after an amusement ride became trapped in a nearly vertical 90-degree drop in Galveston, Texas.

Photos taken from the Iron Shark roller coaster at Pleasure Pier showed eight passengers trapped inside the vehicle as rescue workers climbed a ladder to reach the stricken car.

Iron Shark is the tallest coaster on the pier, with a 100-foot vertical lift overhead. It was reported that the journey had been stuck since 17.30 local time and passengers were stranded for more than two and a half hours.

KHOU 11 reported that those trapped on the roller coaster were STEM students from Houston on a senior trip.

In normal operation, the Iron Shark reaches a top speed of 52 mph. Riders must be at least 42 inches tall, according to the Pleasure Pier website.

Live footage from the scene showed fire personnel carefully moving down the track to reach the stranded drivers, securing them one by one with seat belts.

Officials were seen removing lap bars and shoulder restraints before carefully lowering passengers onto the stairs.

The passengers were then observed descending the fully extended staircase one by one.

As of 20:00 local time, only four of the eight passengers had been brought to safety.

Pleasure Pier COO Terry Turney confirmed in a statement that the ride’s stalling at the top of the track was an intentional safety feature triggered by the malfunction.

“The ride experienced a malfunction on its first start, but it stopped immediately as designed to keep everyone safe,” Turney said.

“Our focus immediately shifted to the safety of our guests, so we contacted the Fire Department to assist and ensured that all guests were safely removed from the vehicle.

“A thorough inspection of the ride will be carried out before it is put back into service,” he said.