{"id":314164,"date":"2026-05-29T16:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/314164\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T16:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T16:14:09","slug":"texas-roller-coaster-malfunction-leaves-8-riders-stranded-100-feet-in-the-air-for-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/314164\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas roller coaster malfunction leaves 8 riders stranded 100 feet in the air for hours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight riders were stranded nearly 100 feet in the air on Thursday evening after a roller coaster in Texas stopped during its vertical climb. <\/p>\n

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The Iron Shark roller coaster at Galveston Island Historic Pleasure Pier came to a stop mid-ride, leaving passengers stuck on the incline for several hours.<\/p>\n

Video of the passengers in the car shows them facing toward the sky, seated in two rows of four, just before reaching the top of the ride.<\/p>\n

The passengers on the roller coaster were on a field trip, according to NBC affiliate KPRC 2 in Houston<\/a>. It was organized by Energized for STEM Academy Middle School and STEM Academy High School, two Houston-area charter schools, KPRC 2 reports.<\/p>\n

Fire Chief Mike Varela Jr. said at a press conference that crews arrived around 5:30 p.m. to rescue the passengers. One by one, each rider was placed in a safety harness and guided into a truck basket, which then lowered them to the ground. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnce they made it up there, you know, they were able to use their skills to calm everyone down and reassure them that the equipment being used would keep them safe,\u201d Varela said.<\/p>\n

Varela said the riders were \u201cshaken up,\u201d but \u201cfelt a sense of joy as well once their feet hit the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the City of Galveston said in a statement that they were all brought down safely.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Galveston Fire Department safely extracted the last person shortly after 9 p.m,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Varela noted that transferring the students from the roller coaster to the fire truck basket was the most critical part, as the students were exposed to the sun and there were concerns about them experiencing dehydration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be very careful, especially with the rescuers we had in the basket at the time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Terry Turney, chief operating officer of Pleasure Pier, said in a statement that \u201cthe ride experienced a malfunction at its initial ascent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, as designed, it immediately stopped to keep everyone safe. Our focus immediately shifted to the safety of our eight guests,\u201d Turney said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, we contacted the fire department to assist, ensuring all guests were safely removed from the ride. A thorough inspection of the ride is currently underway. We can\u2019t thank the fire department enough for their quick response and assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Pleasure Pier website<\/a>, the Iron Shark roller coaster reaches speeds of up to 52 miles per hour and travels along a 1,246-foot track. The steel roller coaster also features a 100-foot vertical drop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose crews were top-notch today,\u201d Varela said. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough about them. They\u2019re well-trained; they\u2019re ready to go when called upon.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eight riders were stranded nearly 100 feet in the air on Thursday evening after a roller coaster in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-314164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}