Lumberjack ride at Canada’s Wonderland park stalls in midair, trapping passengers: NPR

A screenshot taken from social media shows riders dangling from the area after the Lumberjack ride suddenly stopped at Wonderland theme park in Ontario.

Screenshot by NPR/@jiashira_ on TikTok

Hide caption

Toggle caption

Screenshot by NPR/@jiashira_ on TikTok

A screenshot taken from social media shows riders dangling from the area after the Lumberjack ride suddenly stopped at Wonderland theme park in Ontario.

Screenshot by NPR/@jiashira_ on TikTok

A ride in a Canadian park turned into a nightmare on Sunday after it suddenly stopped, leaving passengers hanging upside down, 75 feet above the ground, for about 30 minutes.

Lumberjack riding, falls At Canada’s Wonderland theme park in Vaughan, OntarioIt has two hydraulic, pivoting arms that swing back and forth, sometimes propelling themselves into complete 360-degree swings.

Both axes stopped moving at 10:40 p.m. (local time), according to a statement from the park shared with NPR.

A Wonderland spokesperson did not reveal the reason for the sudden stop of the ride, but said that the maintenance team was able to respond quickly.

The park said all passengers were back on land by 11:05 p.m. Two people were treated for chest pains before being released.

Park crowds watched the rescue, filming dangling passengers crying for help in videos shared on social media.

In some clips, park employees can be heard over a loudspeaker asking: “Is everyone okay there?” The crowd of riders shouts “No!” In near unison.

It is unclear how many people were on the flight, which has enough seats for 48 people. Some passengers were seated face-to-face with strangers, a design choice that “allows guests to interact with each other and watch the horror on their friends’ faces as they spin and spin,” according to Wonderland website.

Contestant Spencer Parkhouse said those on board the flight panicked and at least one person vomited CBC News.

The 11-year-old said the hydraulic arms had to rotate for the rest of the flight before the group could be evacuated. “So the trip continued and we were all saying: ‘No, please, I don’t want to get stuck again,'” he said.

The accident is the latest in a series of roller coaster malfunctions that have made national headlines in the past few months.

In July, nine passengers on the Fireball seesaw plane at a Wisconsin festival remained stuck upside down for several hours as first responders scrambled to get equipment needed to conduct a mid-air evacuation.

Just days ago, a 325-foot roller coaster in North Carolina was closed for repairs after visitors reported seeing a complete crack in one of its steel support beams. Inspectors later discovered a second structural problem with the flight and refused to issue an operating certificate. The Associated Press reported.