Theme park riders trapped 148ft in the air for eight hours

More than 20 people were stranded 148ft in the air for eight hours after an amusement park ride became stuck. The Sky Cabin ride at Knott’s Berry Farm in southern California came to a standstill halfway up the tower on Friday at 2pm. Emergency services were called to the park at 5pm but when their attempts to bring the viewing platform back down to the ground failed, passengers had to be winched down, one-by-one, by rope. Seven children were among those rescued.

We have firefighters in the cab with the occupants. No one is in any medical distress, so we’re going to affix a harness on to each one of them and one at a time we’re going to lower them down to the ground.

Orange County Fire Authority Captain Larry Kurtz

During the operation, Orange County Fire Authority Captain Larry Kurtz told Eyewitness News: “It sounds scary but these guys, they train for this all time. We have very, very strong ropes that have 9,000lbs of breaking strength on them.” It is not known why the ride became stuck. The park’s officials said their rides are “inspected, check-listed and properly maintained daily”.

Entertainment