Thrillseekers at a UK theme park found themselves taking longer than expected to reach the bottom of a ride yesterday. The unlucky group of visitors had to walk down from the top of the 180ft roller coast after it malfunctioned midway through. Yesterday (July 20) was the hottest day on record in the UK, with scorching temperatures reaching a never-before-seen high of 100 degrees Fahrenheit in much of the country. Visitors to Alton Towers theme park in Staffordshire felt the heat in more ways than one when, due to the soaring temperatures, the roller coaster Oblivion came to a stop just before it was due to plunge riders 180ft into an underground tunnel. One man at the amusement park took to Twitter to give the internet real-time updates on how the unlucky thrill-seekers were faring. "An Oblivion shuttle has stopped at the top, I’m sure the magical bottles of water will be straight out in this heat," he tweeted alongside a snap of the stalled roller coaster. Not long after, he tweeted again to let people know that water had been delivered to the people stuck on Oblivion. In his next tweet, he announced: "Evacuation procedure has started, the yellow fences are out on the break run." [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/dean8001/status/1549350459479146500]] "Preparations are underway to evacuate the riders from the shuttle at the top, clearly the ride cannot be re-started at this point in time!" he continued. The next tweet let people know that the theme park goers were having to make their own way down from the top of the roller coaster with the help of a harness. "Guests are now being evacuated from the top, they have remained safe throughout the evacuation, with bottled water provided, and a harness to walk back down to the ground!" he tweeted. [[twitterwidget||https://twitter.com/dean8001/status/1549357946311696386]] Despite the guests' terrifying descent from Oblivion, Alton Towers reassured the public that the ride was in working order. Per <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2022/07/19/thrillseekers-led-down-from-oblivion-as-alton-towers-opens-in-heatwave-17028129/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Metro</a>, a spokesperson for the amusement park said: "The ride performed exactly as it is designed to do." "In line with our well-rehearsed procedures, guests were assisted from the ride and were immediately given water, food, hats and all left happy to continue on with their day at the park. At no point was guest safety compromised," the added. <h6>Featured Image Credit: PA Images / Alamy</h6>

Amusement park guests forced to climb down 180ft roller coaster after ride malfunctions

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