by Donald Wood
Last updated: 9:00 PM ET, Tue May 3, 2016
PHOTO: Less than a year after a crash on The Smiler, pictured, Alton Towers has made safety a top priority, leading to heavy rain triggering a failsafe on the Galactica coaster. (Photo via Wikipedia)
The Alton Towers theme park has received even more bad press Monday after one of the new rides at the facility became stuck, leaving passengers stranded in the rain.
According to CNBC.com, the new Galactica virtual reality roller coaster at Alton Towers came to a stop mid-ride when heavy rain triggered one of the safety sensors. The 28 passengers onboard were stranded for 20 minutes Monday while officials worked to remedy the issues.
Riders lay face down during the ride to emulate the feeling of space travel, and the ride came to a stop at the first lift hill. Thankfully, no injuries were reported, and the roller coaster opened once again later the same day. The Galactica roller coaster opened to the public in March.
"On the afternoon of May 2, heavy rain obscured a sensor on Galactica which meant that the ride was automatically stopped," an Alton Towers spokesperson told CNBC.com. "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."
Alton Towers has been under heavy safety scrutiny after another roller coaster crashed less than a year ago, seriously injuring several passengers. The previous incident involved a ride called The Smiler, which saw two of the carriages collide, injuring 16 passengers and leaving two female riders in need of leg amputations.
Since The Smiler accident, the theme park's operator-Merlin Entertainments-has made strides to improve safety measures and add new attractions to combat dropping visitor numbers as a result of the crash.
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