BUENA PARK, Calif. (CBSNews) — Eighteen people have been stuck 125 feet above the ground for hours on a ride at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California as firefighters devise a rescue plan.
Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Larry Kurtz says Friday night that the riders aren’t in danger.
In a statement to CBS News, Knotts Berry Farm said there were no injuries.
They are stuck on the Sky Cabin, an enclosed, slow-moving attraction where riders in a circular tram travel up a large cylinder, and are being rappelled down with rescue crews.
The Orange County Fire Authority told CBS Los Angeles riders got trapped when the Sky Cabin stalled about 130 feet in the air just before 5 p.m. Emergency crews were responding to the park to conduct a technical rescue, CBS Los Angeles reports.
“What we’re gonna do right now is formulate a plan on exactly how to bring them down,” Kurtz told CBS Los Angeles.
The OCFA had four technical rescue trucks on scene. The ride is enclosed and the guests all appeared to be safe, Kurtz said.
“The best way to bring them down would be obviously to lower the sky cabin ride itself to the ground,” Kurtz said.
The Knott’s website calls the ride “mild.”
Kurtz says the ride is confined and the enclosed the riders aren’t exposed to the elements, so time is on the firefighters’ side.
In a much more frightening incident in 2013 at Knott’s, a group of 20 people were stuck 300 feet high on a ride that left them exposed with their legs dangling out.
