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Jochem Verzijl, 17, from Wijk en Aalburg, was stuck for hours on Saturday at a height of 30 meters in a roller coaster in Plopsaland in Belgium. With a body temperature of just 33 degrees and numb legs, he had to be rescued by firefighters. “It was super cold,” says Jochem.
The emergency services of our neighbors to the south sounded the alert on Saturday when carts of the popular roller coaster The ride to happiness stopped at a great height. There were nine people in the carts, including 17-year-old Jochem.
His track record that day shows that he is a true roller coaster fan. It was his tenth ride in the attraction, which opened last year, in which people are catapulted and knocked down five times. His father thought that was enough after once. “He was already done with it at the time. But he gives me my pleasure, so he let me do it,” says Jochem. And so Papa Verzijl was waiting downstairs, unaware that he wouldn’t be hugging his son until six hours later.
After being launched, the roller coaster suddenly stopped at a height of 30 meters. “At the start, everyone was super excited. It was still daylight and the view over Plopsaland was very nice. Everyone cheered,” says de Brabander. But that laugh soon faded. Torrential rains and the aftermath of Storm Eunice made it freezing cold up there. “I was wearing thick clothes, but because of the rain I was completely soaked.”
As night fell, the emergency services were massively present on the attraction. Firefighters struggled to free the daredevils. Due to the strong wind, the bucket of the crane where the rescuers sat was spinning. Jochem was unaware of this at first. He was sitting in the very front and couldn’t see what was happening below him.
No one sat next to him. Behind him – in the opposite direction – was a German boy, but communication was difficult. “It was blowing so hard that I could barely understand it. I felt quite alone.”
After a few hours, Jochem heard the German: “The firefighters just saved someone! Moments later, it was also the teenager’s turn.
“I was put on some sort of climbing harness and chained to the crane while I was still in the trolley. Then they helped me up into the crane. That was a good thing, because I had no more feeling in my legs.”
Once downstairs, Jochem was wrapped in blankets: his body temperature was only 33 degrees. An ambulance took Jochem and his father to the hospital on a drip.
After a doctor said the patient was fine, Jochem was allowed to go home. A day later, the young Brabander soberly reports that he is fine. “My fingers are still a bit stiff from the cold, but that’s it. It was very special to experience.”
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