TAMPA, Fla. -- Questions remain after dozens of people were stranded 200 feet in the air on a popular Bay Area roller coaster.
RELATED STORY: Riders evacuated from stuck Sheikra at Busch Gardens
Riders on the Sheikra coaster at Busch Gardens tell 10News WTSP they were stuck for over an hour after crews worked to rescue them.
Since the incident—people have reached out to us—saying this isn’t the first time a roller coaster at the theme park has quit mid-ride.
So 10News reporter Jennifer Titus dug deeper to find out how common it was and what parks are required to do if you're one of the ones caught mid-thrill.
Scott Mulhollen got the call no parent wants to get after her daughter and friends found themselves hundreds of feet in the air; stuck on the Sheikra roller coaster at Busch Gardens.
"I thought it was crazy,” says Mulhollen.
His daughter who was on the ride with some friends were rescued after sitting there for more than an hour.
“You hear about these things quite often -- of some sort. A lot of times, passengers fault [but] obviously not in this case. It was a mechanical break-down of some sort,” says Mulhollen.
We wanted to know how often it does happen.
We sent out a request to Busch Gardens to find out how many times the Sheikra has stopped since it opened, but we haven’t heard back.
But we did get this report from the Department of Agriculture: while they don’t keep track of how often a ride is stopped and people are evacuated, they do keep track of accidents. There has been around 40 incidents reported on Disney World rides in the past year but Busch Gardens has none.
“You’re always kind of concerned on any ride. We don’t go to carnivals because of that but it seems amusement parks have better safety records,” says Mulhollen.
And while that’s shocking to Mulhollen, he is also shocked that after his daughters experience, he says she was only offered a bottle water and a chance to ride the Sheikra again.
“You’d think if people were inconvenienced they could do something a little better,” says Mulhollen.
The Sheikra Roller Coaster is still closed while officials investigate.
