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20 Rescued From Stalled Roller Coaster At Movie World On Gold Coast

Park management blamed a 'mechanical issue'.

UPDATE 2.40pm: all patrons have been rescued from the ride.

EARLIER: A roller coaster at the Gold Coast's Movie World theme park has malfunctioned, with around 20 people trapped.

The Arkham Asylum ride is the ride involved. Movie World's general manager Greg Young said there was a "mechanical issue" with the ride, but was not able to provide further details. Vision from news helicopters shows people dangling their legs as they sit suspended midway up an incline on the roller coaster. Young said passengers were provided with water while they were waiting for rescue.

QLD ambulance service confirmed to The Huffington Post Australia that they are in attendance but have no reports of injuries. QLD fire service confirmed they were currently working to rescue around 20 people stuck on the ride.

"We understand there are a number of people who require rescuing. We've got our technical rescue trained firefighters working with site management," a fire spokeswoman told HuffPost Australia.

Fire crews are currently working to extricate passengers from the ride.

Movie World's website states the Arkham Asylum ride reaches speeds of 85 km/h, with "4.2Gs as you face five stomach-churning inversions". The 32 metre high ride opened in 2012, and is said to be the "first of its kind in the world".

The incident comes just a month after Movie World was cleared by safety inspectors as part of an audit following the Dreamworld tragedy in October, where four people died after a ride accident.

More to come.

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