A group of unfortunate passengers had to spent three terrifying hours stuck upside down on a malfunctioning rollercoaster.
Getting stuck anywhere for three hours sounds like a pretty unpleasant experience, but imagine being locked in place in a rollercoaster that of all parts of the track gets jammed while it's upside down.
That was the unfortunate situation a group found themselves in earlier this month after they boarded a ride at the Forest County Festival, Crandon, Wisconsin on Sunday (2 July).
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According to a press release from the local fire department, they were called to the festival after eight people had been stuck on the upside down rollercoaster for about 15 minutes.
It turned out that the rollercoaster had suffered from a mechanical failure which had left the stricken passengers suspended upside down, with the ride's safety harnesses being the only thing keeping them from plummeting to the ground.
The firefighters decided that the best course of action was to call in those big extendable platform things so they could get up to the poor passengers and get them back down.
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Due to the nature of the rollercoaster's safety gear, passenger would need to be secured by the rescue team before being released from the ride.
Some of the people on board had to wait for about three hours before they were rescued, it was reported.
Though the fortunate first person was able to plant their feet back on solid ground about two hours after the mechanical failure trapped them upside down.
However, the lengthy rescue period meant that the time between the first and last person being rescued was nearly three and a half hours.
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Ambulance crews were also on hand to see to the passengers when they got back down and one person was taken to hospital.
What exactly caused the mechanical failure is unknown, and the ride had been inspected on site shortly before the malfunction.
In an email to AP, Department of Safety and Professional Services spokesperson John Beard said that the agency is investigating and had dispatched an inspector on Monday (4 July) to Crandon. He had no further information on the situation at the time.
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There have been other cases where a problem with a rollercoaster has been spotted ahead of time and the ride shut down before anyone else goes on it.
Rollercoaster enthusiasts tend to want to make sure the wood and metal contraption they're strapping themselves into is actually safe before they get into it and a few theme park fans have made some worrying discoveries.
One of the reasons rollercoasters really took off in the US is because the people who paid for them to be built thought they'd keep families together in the traditional unit and out of places of vice and sin.
Joe Harker