Teen passengers react to being stranded on stalled Joker's Jinx roller coaster at Six Flags America
WASHINGTON - An investigation is underway to find out why a roller coaster at a popular amusement park stalled Thursday afternoon, leaving 24 people stuck in midair for over three hours.
The passengers of the Joker's Jinx became stranded 100 feet in the air when the ride malfunctioned around 5:30 p.m. No injuries were reported.
15-year-old Julia and 13-year-old Desi were on the ride when it stalled and said, initially, they were not concerned because it started off normally. "Then, while it was going down a hill and it was going up another hill, it must have lost momentum or something," she told FOX 5 during an interview Friday morning.
At first, she thought the ride slowed as part of an added feature, but then quickly realized that it was stuck.
"Desi and I definitely were a help to each other because, at first, we were both panicking but having each other there was really nice and comforting," she said. Conversations between other passengers kept everyone's mind off of the problem.
Desi said emergency crews kept the passengers updated on the situation. Once a firefighter made his way to the stranded cars the rescue procedure was explained.
Everyone was rescued without injury and the ride will remain out of service while and investigation is conducted.
Julia said that she had ridden the Joker's Jinx before, and was hesitant to ride it again, before finally boarding with her brother Thursday afternoon. "My dislike for that ride is now justified," she told us and said it's not likely she'll ride it again.
Two dozen passengers had become stuck on the same ride in August 2014.