Passengers rescued from Gold Coast roller coaster

Rose Donohoe
Sep 30, 2016, updated Sep 30, 2016

At least four passengers were stranded on the ride. Photo: Twitter

Passengers had to be rescued from a roller coaster at Sea World on the Gold Coast after the ride malfunctioned.

Sea World staff wearing harnesses had to negotiate tricky high winds to climb ‘The Storm Coaster’ and calm passengers, who were strapped into their seats high above the ground.

One by one the passengers were evacuated and returned to ground level, where it appeared all were uninjured.

The rescuers had to deal with high winds as they escorted the park’s patrons back to ground level.

Footage via Channel 7 News:

Gold Coast: People stuck at the top of a roller coaster ride at Sea World. Rescue operation underway. #7News pic.twitter.com/lX4mbBl5tO

— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) September 30, 2016

The malfunction, which came during the busy school holiday period, was reportedly caused by a sensor fault.

“The safety and wellbeing of all our guests is our top priority and our highly trained staff ensured the safest outcome was achieved with guests led down the stairs to ground level without incident,” Sea World said in a statement.

“The ride will reopen after the fault is cleared and operating checks are completed,” Sea World said.

A Channel 7 helicopter captured vision of the passengers giving the ‘thumbs up’ sign as they awaited rescue.