Two dozen people were rescued from a stuck roller coaster at Six Flags America in Maryland, after spending more than four hours as high as 79 feet up in the air.
Prince George’s County Fire and EMS crews had to use a high-angle rescue to get them down. Each person was taken by a rescue bucket -- lifted into the air by a 105-foot tower ladder on rescue equipment -- down to the ground.
The riders were stuck on Six Flags' Joker’s Jinx ride. Some people were stuck at the highest part of the coaster.
The park statement said there were no injuries.
Riders were provided umbrellas by rescue crews to shade them from the sun and were provided water.
Firefighters have made face to face access with first riders - this will be a long term rescue pic.twitter.com/u6Wt4bANf0 — Marc Bashoor (@PGFD_Chief) August 10, 2014
All 24 patrons in the ground. Currently evaluating all 24 with EMS. — Marc Bashoor (@PGFD_Chief) August 10, 2014
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The statement said the ride has a computerized safety system that can cause such ride stoppages. They are still investigating what caused the ride to stop.
According to the park's website, the roller coaster has a launch system that gets riders from 0 to 60 MPH in just a little more than three seconds. The ride was introduced in 1999.
