Eight passengers trapped for half an hour and fearing for their lives when a rollercoaster suddenly stopped at Sea World

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Terrified families were trapped at the top of a rollercoaster at Sea World for half an hour by a system fault.

Eight people were stranded on the 'boat' carriage of the Storm Coaster ride at the Gold Coast theme park until staff fixed the problem.

Sea World said the 'boats' at the bottom of the coaster were stuck there by a mechanical fault, so boats behind it couldn't moving forward as a safety feature.

Terrified families were trapped at the top of the Storm Coaster ride at Sea World theme park on the Gold Coast for half an hour by a system fault

Staff were in contact with the trapped riders until the fault was cleared and they could coast back to the bottom. No one was injured.

Six teenagers were stuck on the same rollercoaster for three hours in September 2016 by a similar fault.

Storm Coaster features drops and chain-lifts of a typical steel coaster, but with the water splashes of a log flume.

It does not feature any inversions, so no riders have been stranded upside down. 

Six teenagers were stuck on the same rollercoaster for three hours in September 2016 by a similar fault (pictured)