Several people visiting an Australian theme park ended up trapped on one of the world's tallest rollercoasters.
Warner Bros. Movie World theme park is located on Australia's Gold Coast, and if you're there you might want to check out the DC Rivals HyperCoaster.
It's the tallest, longest and fastest rollercoaster you'll find anywhere south of the Equator, but a few hours ago things went a bit wrong.
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According to a statement from the theme park, one of the ride operators noticed that a scarf had become stuck around the train wheel of the ride, resulting in the decision being made to bring the rollercoaster to a halt.
With the passengers stuck on the lift hill at around 3pm local time, staff then set about getting the trapped thrill seekers back on solid ground.
They brought harnesses for the guests, but since the ride was stopped in a certain place getting down to safety was as simple as being able to get out of the ride and clamber down some stairs.
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"The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our highest priority and the ride will be operational following the completion of the removal of the loose item," the theme park said in their statement explaining the situation.
"We understand ride stoppages can be frustrating for guests and it is for reasons such as these why loose items are not permitted to be taken on-board rides and attractions and we encourage guests to follow all instructions of our operators."
The last of the passengers made it back down to the ground at around 6pm local time, bringing an end to the three-hour-long ordeal.
As far as being trapped on a rollercoaster goes this ended up being one of the more manageable situations, especially since the problem was spotted and the ride stopped at a specific point.
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This isn't one of those times when some poor souls ended up being stuck upside-down for ages after their ride unexpectedly broke down.
Nor is it one of those times where the ride keeps running but ends up going the wrong way, though thankfully staff were able to shut off the ride pretty quickly in that case.
In this case thanks to some quick thinking from the theme park staff the ride was stopped before the stuck scarf could cause any problems.
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If nothing else it's a good lesson in why you shouldn't be taking loose stuff onto rides with you, as even if you're desperate to get on a rollercoaster, your scarf really does not need to come with you.
Topics: Australia, World News
Joe Harker