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Adventurous visitors needed rescuing from the top of Hersheypark’s oldest rollercoaster, The Comet, on Sunday when the ride unexpectedly came to a stop due to an issue involving someone not on the ride.
The historic 75-year-old wooden coaster was halted at around 5 p.m. because of a non-specific problem that led to the ride’s suspension midway through its course.
A spokesperson for Hersheypark informed CBS 21, saying, “Comet encountered a temporary halt on the track, which was triggered by an unrelated matter concerning an off-ride guest. Following our protocols, our teams safely guided guests off the coaster and back to the station smoothly, allowing the ride to reopen shortly afterwards.”
The ride stopped moving during one of its first ascents, making for a relatively easy hike back down the slope, according to video captured by onlookers.
The Comet doesn’t feature any upside-down turns that would make a malfunction more precarious, just a few tame bunny hills and drops that were considered novel when it was first installed in 1946.
Now, it’s flanked by the park’s more notorious coasters with death-defying drops, including Skyrush, which has a steep yellow tower visible from the parking lot.
It’s been a turbulent summer for the beloved Pennsylvania amusement park.
Just last week, a lost child bizarrely wound up on the monorail line and had to be rescued by a quick-thinking dad who scaled a concession stand to reach the frazzled boy.
The boy’s hero said he acted on “dad instincts” and was just relieved the child wasn’t difficult and “came straight into [his] arms.”
The monorail was, thankfully, closed during the child’s misadventure.
In July, a 9-year-old girl drowned in the sprawling waterpark’s wave pool.
Sophia Subedi’s “limp” body was pulled from the wave pool after she had apparently gone into distress. A lifeguard tried to perform CPR for several minutes, but by then it was too late.
Her family remembered the bubbly third-grader as “a bright, kind, and loving young girl” who “brought joy and light to everyone who knew her,” according to her obituary.