Twice within a week, thrill seekers were stuck in mid-air on rides at a popular Queensland theme park.
However, the operator says that interruptions to travel are standard procedure and that concerns about a wider system problem have been allayed.
On Tuesday, people were stuck in the air for more than 90 minutes on the Vortex attraction, a 15-meter-high carousel ride, at Sea World on the Gold Coast.
Sea World said the “normal” cancellation of the ride was caused by a sensor communication error.
Paramedics examined 12 people after they were rescued from the trap, but none required hospitalization, Queensland Ambulance Service said.
The attraction will be closed on Wednesday so Sea World’s engineering team can conduct diagnostic tests on its systems.
This is the second incident in less than a week, after visitors to the Leviathan roller coaster were stranded for an hour and only stopped on Thursday when a sensor was activated.
The theme park said the two incidents were “completely unrelated” and that the disruptions were a normal part of attraction operations around the world.
Sea World said ride malfunctions that cause disruptions can usually be resolved by returning passengers to the ground using a computer system.
In some cases, however, the ride must be lowered manually.
“We understand that these ride interruptions may result in guests having to stay on the ride longer than expected,” the company said in a statement.
Sea World said it occasionally had to call emergency services to assist in rescue when the manual process for returning passengers failed.
For this reason, emergency services were called on Tuesday when visitors became stranded on the Vortex, but the fire service was not required.
The company said safety was the primary consideration in the rescue operation.
“Our team trains regularly for these exercises,” the company said.
Sea World reiterated that all rides are inspected and maintained daily, weekly and monthly to address concerns.
