13 People Left Stranded on Ride for 3 Hours After Roller Coaster Gets Stuck
“Wave Breaker: The Rescue Coaster” may need to rethink its name after a mishap on Sunday that resulted in 13 passengers needing to be rescued from one of the roller coaster’s high tracks.
SeaWorld San Antonio’s website says the roller coaster “launches you on an exciting adventure as you join the SeaWorld Rescue Team in their quest to help an animal in danger.”
Most rescues take hours of planning and work to carry out, so the riders were no doubt looking for something a little less intense and time-consuming. Or at least not being the “animal in danger” themselves.
“Straddling a jet-ski style car, you race out over the lake, launching 60 feet into the air through banks and turns along 2,600 feet of track,” the description continues.
“With a height limit of only 48″ this is sure to be a family favorite.”
It was around 1 p.m. on Sunday when help was called out for a “technical rescue,” according to My San Antonio. The ride was stuck high in the air and at an angle.
Rescue crews worked for three hours using a cherry picker to extract each of the 13 guests from the 61-foot-high roller coaster.
The day after the incident, SeaWorld San Antonio released a statement confirming the mishap and stating that the San Antonio Fire Department was able to rescue the hapless riders.
“[Sunday] at 12:51pm the Wave Breaker roller coaster stopped during the ride,” a SeaWorld spokesperson told WOAI-TV. “Thirteen guests were onboard. Consistent with our established safety protocols we worked with the San Antonio Fire Department to safely evacuate all guests on the ride.”
“We apologize for the guest inconvenience. The safety of our employees and guests is our top priority.”
The ride has been open since June 2017, and many have enjoyed the attraction. No cause for the malfunction has been given.
Many have commented on footage of the rescue, posing deep philosophical questions about the passengers on the family-friendly ride like, “who would cry more: the parents or the kids?” and using this example as evidence for why they won’t set foot on any roller coaster.
Others pointed out that it wasn’t as bad as it could be — the roller coaster could have malfunctioned while the passengers were upside-down.
Thankfully, no injuries were reported and all were rescued safely, though those 13 may have second thoughts about riding a roller coaster again anytime soon.
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