Visitors at an amusement park in the US were stuck upside down for about 15 minutes after their ride experienced a malfunction, according to the New York Post. The incident took place at the Arkansas State Fair on Saturday on the X-Drive, a 16-seater attraction that places riders on the other end of the spinning arm and features rotating seats that flip the riders freely. In a statement, North American Midway Entertainment Services VP Scooter Korek said that the “ride’s computer received a fault” because of which it was stuck for about 10-12 minutes. Maintenance staff responded and eventually got the ride to spin, the outlet reported.
“The ride’s computer received a fault. What it does is when it finds something that it doesn’t like, it shuts it down. So, the ride was in the air, not in its landing position, for about 10-12 minutes,” Mr Korek, per the Post. He also stated that he still trusts the ride’s safety.
“Let me break it down to you in a nutshell. Any of my family members can go on any of our rides any day. That’s how good I feel about our programs, our safety programs, and the people who work for us to operate and take care of these rides,” he said.
However, a mother, whose two children were stuck upside down on the ride, slammed the organisers. Sharing a video on Facebook, Ally Metzger claimed that her kids, 8 and 11, were raised several feet off the ground when the ride stopped working. “They’re trying to get my kids down, they’ve been stuck upside down for 15 minutes at least,” she wrote as workers attempted to manually spin the ride to help the stranded passengers.
“There’s a bunch of people trying to get the ride to spin, and they would get it almost halfway down. Then it would go right back up to the very top, with my kids still upside down. So, I’m panicking. My partner’s panicking,” Ms Metzger told a local media outlet.
Ms Metzger’s 11-year-old separately said that she doesn’t remember much of what happened. “She told me when she came home that she only remembered crying, and then, like, just got dizzy. Her legs were hurting. I guess because the circulation was out,” the mother said.
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Following the incident, Ms Metzger railed against the fair, demanding her money back and calling out one of the employees. “After what was spent to get in this place? RUN ME MY REFUND,” she wrote on Facebook. “Oh and I filled out a cute complaint,” she added.
The complaint was aimed at one ride attendant who allegedly told the parents to “calm down its only been four and a half minutes and you’re making it worse.” “Shout out to the nice lady at the med tent who made sure my babies were ok and gave us our money back. I remember why I don’t come here,” she added.