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DOZENS OF PEOPLE have been rescued from one of the world’s tallest Ferris wheels after it shut down, leaving them them stranded in mid-air.
A technical crew with The Orlando Eye safely evacuated all 66 stranded riders, an incident that shut down the attraction that towers 400 feet over central Florida, authorities said.
Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy told The Associated Press no one was hurt following the Friday afternoon incident and all were taken off in an operation lasting about three hours with help from several firefighters.
She said the attraction, which is billed by operators as the largest observation wheel on the East Coast, had initially stopped for more than 45 minutes.
Power was restored via a backup generator and a technical team at the attraction, backed by the firefighters, carried out the task of removing riders from the enclosed capsules after each was brought down to the platform, officials said.
Firefighters on ladders helped the ride technical team that manually opened the doors.
Six elite rescue climbers with the fire rescue squad were dispatched but weren’t needed for a climb, Kennedy said. They were part of a 40-person agency special operations team that had climbed the attraction in training before but — a fire rescue spokesperosn said said — “thankfully” such an aerial operation wasn’t needed.
Andrea Alava, a public relations manager for The Orlando Eye, issued a statement that the attraction had shut down as a safety precaution before the team went to a backup operation. She said its teams carried out the actual evacuation, not firefighters as some reports initially suggested.
Merlin Entertainments PLC owns the attraction and a similar 442-foot observation wheel in Britain, The London Eye, according to Alava.
At approximately 3:45 p.m., the operating systems for the Orlando Eye indicated a technical default with the system that monitors the wheel position of the Orlando Eye. As a safety precaution, the attraction is designed to automatically shut down if communication with this system is interrupted,” Alava said in an emailed statement.
“Immediately following the default, the operations team began working to resolve the matter to allow guests to disembark the attraction. A backup system was employed that allowed capsules to be moved to the platform and opened manually,” the statement added.
There was no immediate indication when the attraction would reopen.
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I’m honestly shocked that this is not a matter of practice already, and that it had to be fought for.
Imagine the heartbreak of losing your partner in childbirth and being told you weren’t automatically entitled to a inquest?
@Abbie Cranky: I am not shocked at all to be honest, this is the country we live in, we vote for corrupt parties and we get a corrupt system because of this its very simple.
@Peter Hughes:
Fine Gael increasing their percentage of the vote despite the many health scandals happening on their watch.
One could easily despair of the myopia of the electorate if one was so inclined.
@Jimmy Coltrane: They’re not really though.Its all “within margin of error” stuff and when broken down doesn’t mean they’d be returned to government. If it did we’d have an election next September..
Shocking that it isn’t already the rule, I guess it’s part of the old Ireland, at least we do make some progress in some areas.
Well done to Claire Daly, it’s excellent legislation and well done to her for proposing it and for persisting with it for 3 years since 2015. Some people are quick to criticize her but she does excellent work and doesn’t deserve the grief some people give her. You might not always agree with her politics but you cannot argue with her work rate and she is the exception in a bunch of lazy and incompetent ministers.
Just waiting to see which Total Dichs oppose this.
@Ixtrix Net: Mattie McGrath step on down…
@Ixtrix Net: The new rules requiring the prompt treatment of sepsis will prevent a case like Savita’s happening ever again.
@Tom Molloy: Removing a septic foetus would have helped.
@Tom Molloy:
that’s a good thing, but, some thing should be pro-active, not , retro-active
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Savita lived for three days after the spontaneous miscarriage. No medic has said that an abortion would have made any difference to the out of control sepsis. Sepsis causes multiple organ failure, removing any one would not “cure” the sepsis nor would the removal of the fetus.
@Tom Molloy: Well Tom, thats just not true. A former Master of Holles St, a man at the top of his field said that early intervention, in this case abortion, would likely have prevented sepsis.
Can we stick to the truth please?
8 women all died by medical negligence yet only one name will stand out for most . Shameful.
@Siobhán Ni Mhurchú: No, they died because they were prevented from accessing abortion here at home.
How many can you name?
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: Great to hear there are no sepsis related maternal deaths in the UK where abortion has been legal for years…..oh wait…
@Ciara Ni Mhurchu: did you even read the article?
I wonder where would women’s voices be heard without @ClareDalyTD?
What if the family don’t want the death reported. This is often the case in suicide or OD.
Clare Daly is a beacon in a sea of …. (express exasperation here)
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: suicide and OD would always be reported. This is about death during or shortly after childbirth.
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