Sixteen roller coaster riders on Tampa's Busch Gardens Cheetah Hunt were stranded Wednesday during a rainstorm in what officials feel was a safety system malfunction television station WSFA reported Wednesday.
The coaster stopped shortly after it departed the station where it picked up the passengers Wednesday afternoon WSFA reported.
"Just after 2:30, one of the cars stopped just outside the station. It stopped after an initial launch," Travis Claytor, a park spokesman told The New York Daily News.
Riders were given ponchos from staff via a cherry picker, and the first rider shortly before 5 p.m. following a call to Tampa Fire Rescue around 4 p.m.
"We were able to put some nice harness on them before we moved them and got them onto the bucket and lowered them down to the ground," Emilio Salabarria chief of special operations at Tampa Fire Rescue told WSFA.
"They were sitting on that ride and they were at an angle - probably 30 degrees - so just unbuckling them raised some anxiety for both the passengers and for our people,"
"We knew there were lightning strikes nearby so we were monitoring the lightning. Every 5 minutes, we were getting reports from our dispatch," Salabarria told WSFA. "The closest one got to about three miles. We really thought about shutting down operations, but we continued," Salabarria told WSFA.
The rescue effort wrapped up about two and a half hours after the without any further issues.
"We have no reported injuries. No one was taken to the hospital," Salabarria told WSFA. "Everyone came off. Once they got on the ground, they walk away under their own power.
The Cheetah Hunt began operations in May 2011 according to WSFA.
Busch Gardens has parks in Tampa, FL, and Williamsburg, VA according to information on their website.
