A number of Alton Towers visitors were left dangling from a rollercoaster after it stopped working in heavy rain.
The incident comes nearly one year after a rollercoaster crash left five people seriously injured, including two women who required leg amputations when a carriage on the Smiler rollercoaster collided with a stationery carriage on the same track in June 2015.
Today, 28 people were left stuck on the Galactica ride in Alton Towers, after it stopped moving on the tracks due to a technical fault caused by heavy rainfall.
Reports say that it took almost 20 minutes to bring the people safely down from the ride when it stopped shortly before 2pm. Some witnesses however, say they were stuck for between 30 and 40 minutes.
Alton Towers released a statement saying:
"Heavy rain obscured a sensor on Galactica which meant that the ride was automatically stopped. This is a standard safety feature on this ride and the ride was working exactly as it is designed to do. The health and safety of our guests is our number one priority and our team followed standard procedures to get the guests off as quickly and as safely as possible. The ride has re-opened."
Galactica is an Alton Towers which is said to be the first fully virtual reality ride to link graphics on headsets with physical twists and turns.
The 20m-high ride simulates the feeling of flying as it takes riders on a 189-second journey on a virtual space station and through an asteroid field.
