A high school student has sworn off roller coasters after getting stuck on one, 12 stories high, in the middle of a lightning storm last weekend.
Christian Chaney was one of eight students on a theme park ride called The Joker, at Six Flags Amusement Park, in Texas, when the frightening incident occurred.
According to a report by local news outlet KTBS, Christian and fellow seniors were visiting the park as part of an overnight event with their high school. They buckled in on The Joker at around midnight.
However, with weather conditions bad on the night, high winds are said to have triggered a safety sensor on the 120-foot-high ‘coaster. The ride proceeded to stop mid-air, leaving the group of eight students dangling precariously stories above the ground.
Now, this is a pretty scary situation for anyone to be in, but the fact that it took an alleged half an hour for the Park to make an announcement about it made it even worse.
8 people were stuck on "The Joker" roller coaster at #SixFlags for more than 3 hours during a lightning storm: https://t.co/HYmvQqI8la pic.twitter.com/Kj7hvsii0S
— FOX 15 Abilene (@FOX15Abilene) May 22, 2017
In the meantime, the students who were stuck resorted to ‘screaming at the top of their lungs, trying to get their attention’.
It didn’t help that they were caught up in a lightning storm either, with rain so heavy that it left Christian’s legs red.
He told local media: “We were holding hands, and we prayed a lot. My friend and I thought we were going to die, just because there was lightning, and we didn’t think anyone knew we were up there.”
Poor Christian admitted to ‘bawling’ until firefighters arrived on the scene to help him and his friends to safety. To access the roller coaster, the crew had to cut a hole in a nearby fence and angle in a ladder.
The rescue wasn’t finished until 3:30am, meaning that Christian and his friends wound up hanging in the air for over three hours – how terrifying. Indeed, Christian said that it was only once he was down on the ground that he realised just how ‘life-threatening’ a situation he was in.
The Joker will open following a full inspection. Severe headwinds triggered a safety stoppage overnight. All guests were safely unloaded.
— Six Flags Over Texas (@SixFlagsOverTX) May 20, 2017
After a thorough inspection, The Joker is open. Severe headwinds triggered a safety stop overnight. Safety is our highest priority.
— Six Flags Over Texas (@SixFlagsOverTX) May 21, 2017
While Six Flags Over Texas has lost a customer in Christian, the park’s communications team were quick to jump into damage control mode.
A statement has been released, reading: “The safety of our guests is our highest priority. We monitor weather conditions around the clock.
“In this particular instance, a weather update was communicated just as the ride car was dispatched. Our ride crew was immediately notified, but the severe head winds ahead of the storm were moving swiftly and caused the ride to stop at a safe location on the track.”
We’re just glad that no one was seriously injured in this incident.
