Students in Texas Were Trapped on a Brand New Roller Coaster for Hours in a Lightning Storm

Eight students in Texas were trapped on The Joker, a new roller coaster at Six Flags in Arlington.

A view of The Texas Giant roller coaster (R) at Six Flags Over Texas
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A view of The Texas Giant roller coaster (R) at Six Flags Over Texas

A view of The Texas Giant roller coaster (R) at Six Flags Over Texas

This is like a story straight out of a horror film: a group of eight recent high school graduates were trapped on a new roller coaster at Six Flags in Arlington, Texas, for hours late at night—during a lightning storm.

As the local ABC affiliate reports, the roller coaster—a new, one-minute ride that opened that night called The Joker—stopped on an upper area of the track after midnight Saturday. It took about three hours for the students to be rescued by firefighters.

The Joker roller coaster at Six Flags over Texas opened earlier this week now closed after 8 students rescued after being stuck over night. pic.twitter.com/UdoEoqnkQv

The theme park stayed open late that night for high school senior night. There was extreme weather that night, with the storm including strong winds and rain, and officials say the powerful winds activated an automatic safety measure in the ride, which shut it down.

The students’ feet were dangling from the ride, which is 120 feet tall. Nobody was hurt, but the last rider was not removed until about 3:40 a.m. Saturday.

“I was shaking, I was crying,” said Christian Chaney, one of the students who was trapped on the ride, according to ABC News. “It started rocking back and forth and then it came to a complete stop, and we knew something was wrong.”​

The stranded passengers didn’t hear from anyone from Six Flags for about 25 minutes, according to Chaney.

Six Flags has closed the ride for the time being as it conducts a safety inspection.

Something tells us these students will receive a little more than a free season’s pass from the theme-park giant.

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