Warner Bros Movie World: Riders stranded high on rollercoaster at Gold Coast theme park

Australian thrill-seekers have been rescued after they were stranded on a rollercoaster at a major theme park for hours.

Early reports indicate the riders of the DC Rivals HyperCoaster at Movie World in the Gold Coast were stuck at least 10m off the ground at a steep angle.

Vision posted to Facebook shows the riders stuck on an ascending part of the coaster, just metres away from a near vertical drop. Temperatures were bordering on about 30C on Wednesday as rescuers moved quickly to help passengers.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks, the home of Movie World, have since confirmed that the coaster was stopped due to sensor activation.

“At all times throughout the stoppage, the guests on board were safe and our team were in constant communication with them,” they said.

The rescue process took some hours, with riders exiting the coaster from safe stop zones before walking down the lift hill.

It is unclear how many people were stranded on the ride, or what caused the sensor to go off.

Village Roadshow Theme Parks confirmed that all guests are now safely off the coaster.

It comes after the same ride got stuck on January 5, 2024.

That incident was caused by a visitor’s scarf getting wrapped around a wheel, which triggered safety systems to halt the ride.

All guests were safe.

Still at the forefront of the minds of many Australians is the malfunction of the Thunder River Rapids ride at Dreamworld, the country’s deadliest theme park disaster.

Four passengers of the water ride were killed on October 25, 2016, after a malfunction caused them to either fall out of the raft, or become trapped close to the conveyor mechanism.

Two child passengers of the raft survived the horrific ordeal without physical injuries.

The accident shocked Australia and resulted in the immediate closure of the ride before it was later demolished.

In 2020, Dreamworld’s operator Ardent Leisure was fined $3.6 million after pleading guilty to three charges under Work Health and Safety laws.

In 2017, a coroner’s report recommended no criminal charges be laid against any particular person. No charges have since been laid.