Roller Coaster Traps Riders Upside Down for More Than 3 Hours in Wisconsin

By Allison Schonter

Thrill seekers at a summer festival in Wisconsin got more of a scare than they likely bargained for after they were left hanging upside down for several hours when their roller coaster broke down. Eight riders were left suspended for three hours on the Fireball roller coaster at the Forest Country Festival in Crandon when the ride suffered a suspected mechanical failure on Sunday, NBC News reported. Seven of the stuck passengers were children, according to CBS affiliate WSAW.

The terrifying incident occurred Sunday afternoon, with the Antigo Fire Department responding to a call at 2:06 p.m. for a "tipped-over carnival ride." According to Captain Brennan Cook of the Crandon Fire Department, there was "a mechanical failure with the ride where it became stuck in the upright position." Cook said the roller coaster "was recently inspected by the state of Wisconsin here on site."

Videos shared on social media showed the coaster car stuck on the track, with passengers seen hanging upside down. According to a joint statement released by the Crandon Fire Department and Crandon Area Rescue Squad, the passengers were "being held in inverted position by safety harnesses," and "due to the height of the ride, specialized technical rescue teams and mutual aid equipment were needed to remove riders from the ride." The first trapped passenger was freed about two hours after fire and rescue crews arrived on the scene, and the last passenger was rescued three hours after crew arrived, just after 5 p.m. Nine patients were treated by emergency medical services and one person was transported to Aspirus Rhinelander Hospital by ambulance.

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The Crandon fire chief told CBS News the cause of the coaster's mechanical malfunction is unknown. However, one Facebook user said the coaster malfunctioned after a passenger "dropped their purse" in the mechanism of the ride. Traci Wells from Jackson, Wisconsin, who said they knew someone who was at the festival at the time of the incident, said that "the fire department was unable to get it removed and had to get everyone out manually. Purses should have never been allowed on in the first place."

The terrifying incident marked just the latest at an amusement park and came just two days after a father spotted a crack in a steel support pillar at the top of a roller coaster at Carowinds amusement park in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Fury 325 was subsequently shut down for inspection and repair.

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