19 Rescued From Stuck Fairground Ride in London
19 adults and children were stuck more than 200 feet in the air.
— -- Crews worked to rescue 19 adults and children from a fairground ride in South Bank, London before nightfall today, the city's fire department said.
Six children and 13 adults were in hanging capsules more than 200 feet in the air on the Starflyer ride when it became stuck around 5:55 p.m. local time. Firefighters with the London Fire Brigade responded to the scene at the London Wonderground circus in London. Crews used a cherry picker to safely reach the individuals and bring them down.
Station Manager Clive Robinson of the London Fire Brigade described it as "slow work."
"We [needed] to access each cage on the ride and ensure they were secure we [moved] them from the ride onto our platform and [bringing] them back down to the ground," he said in a statement.
The pods had to be manually released to align them with the aerial ladder platforms, he said.
Despite the commotion, firefighters said the riders were very calm.
Everyone was rescued by 9:22 p.m. No injuries were reported. London Wonderground said in a statement the company that managed the ride were investigating what caused it to become stuck.