Movie World ride passengers freed after malfunction
Movie World said the fault occurred when a passenger took off an item of clothing, which then became jammed in the mechanism. Photo: AAP
Emergency crews have rescued a group of passengers from a stuck rollercoaster ride at Movie World theme park on the Gold Coast.
About 20 people were trapped for about an hour and 40 minutes before firefighters scaled the Arkham Asylum ride to free passengers.
Firefighters used a cherry picker to rescue four people, while 16 others were evacuated using Movie World’s evacuation procedures.
One young boy and 19 women were stranded at the top of the ride.
Queensland Ambulance said it had no reports of injuries but was setting up a triage area at the park.
“The park has offered them water. We’ve asked them to drink that water as quickly as they can to get [it] into their body. They all looked flushed, a little bit hot being in the sun,” Queensland Ambulance Service operations supervisor Paul Young said.
“But they’re all fine. No-one actually required intervention or treatment at any hospital or medical centre.
“They were in good spirits, they were laughing, no-one appeared to be fazed by it.”
The Arkham Asylum ride became stuck at midday with about 20 people on board. Photo: Twitter
Movie World general manager Greg Yong said there was a mechanical issue with a chain, but did not know exactly what went wrong.
The theme park will look into whether heat played a factor in the stoppage.
“Due to the time it will take to rectify this issue, we have decided to do an evacuation of the ride,” Mr Yong said.
“This is a process we have drilled for fire services.
“There were no injuries with any guests on board.”
He said he does not believe the ride will be closed for an extended period of time, and could not give further details until a full analysis had been conducted.
Queensland Workplace Health and Safety officers are at the scene investigating the ride malfunction.
The Batman themed ride is 33m high at its tallest point and travels at speeds of up to 85 km per hour.
The incident comes after four people died on Dreamworld’s Thunder River Rapids ride in October 2016.
A Movie World safety audit was carried out in the wake of the Dreamworld incident found all rides at the park were safe.
Firefighters climbing Arkham Asylum rollercoaster at Movie World to free passengers stuck at the top @9NewsBrisbane pic.twitter.com/f0IjNA6i3x
— Carrie Greenbank (@CGreenbank9) January 11, 2017
– with ABC
