Roller-Coaster Ride Strands 27

(April 8, 1999)It was a roller-coaster ride that few of the 27 passengers aboard the "Vampire" ride at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom Wednesday would forget.

The roller coaster stopped 60 feet above the ground about 5:05 p.m. ET Wednesday. All of the seven cars on the corkscrew roller coaster were either right-side-up or sideways. No one was injured, reports CBS affiliate WLKY-TV, but some riders were stranded for nearly three and a half hours.

Ronel Brown, a Louisville Fire Department spokesman, said firefighters used two cherry pickers to get passengers off the ride. All riders had been removed from the roller coaster by midevening.

"Everyone was evaluated once they were off the ride, and they all checked out," Brown said.

Park officials said they don't know why the ride stopped.

Debbie Vonderhite, a park spokeswoman, said the ride was checked before it began operating Wednesday and no problem was found. Vonderhite acknowledged that sometimes in the past, the ride had stopped on its own or been stopped, although it had never been considered a problem.

Kentucky Kingdom officials said the 9-year-old ride would not be returned to operation until it is learned what caused it to stop.

This is the second amusement-park incident in a month. One woman was killed and 10 other people were injured March 21 when a raft overturned on the Roaring Rapids ride at Six Flags over Texas.