Engineers will be back on the ground at Sea World today to check over a malfunctioning ride at the Gold Coast theme park.
More than a dozen thrillseekers were left dangling in the air for around 90 minutes after the popular Vortex ride suddenly came to a halt around 2.30pm on Tuesday.
A cherry picker was called in to help deliver bottles of water and umbrellas to shield the ridegoers from the heat and sun whilst they waited to be rescued.
Queensland Ambulance Paramedics also remained on standby alongside the Queensland Fire Department before the passengers were eventually helped to safety.
Sea World later confirmed in a statement that the stoppage was caused by a “sensor communication fault”.
“Our engineering team manually lowered the ride to its home position where the guests exited in just over 90 minutes of the ride stoppage,” the statement said.
“Our on-site nurse provided welfare checks in an abundance of caution with them upon exiting the ride.
“Our team regularly train for these exercises and we have a strong working relationship with the QFES team.
“The safety and wellbeing of our guests is our highest priority and ride stoppages are proof rides systems and operators are doing as they are designed and trained to do to keep our guests safe.”
The theme park has confirmed the Vortex will remain closed today “to allow our engineering team to conduct thorough diagnostic testing of the ride’s control systems”.
