Children stranded 52m in the air on broken fairground ride

Children stranded 52m in the air on broken fairground ride

By Maddison Leach|

Six adults and two terrified children are stranded 52 metres in the air, after a fairground ride broke down at around 8:30pm local time in France.

The ride at a local fairground in Rennes, Brittany, broke down suddenly and without warning according to witnesses.

Ouest France has reported that sparks were seen spraying from the middle of the ride’s engine, and once it had stalled attendants couldn’t get the ride running again.

Emergency services are working to get the people down, but warm it will be a long operation. (Twitter)

Firefighters and emergency services were called to the fairground, where there were hopes that the trapped riders would be brought down quickly, but a major issue soon arose.

The firefighter’s equipment only allows them to climb to around 30 metres, leaving them unable to reach those trapped.

This meant that the adults and children would have to abseil the approximately 22 metres between the top of the ride and the rescuers in a delicate operation that was set to take up to two hours.

However when the group were still stranded three and a half hours later, helicopters were called in to assist.

Local journalist Samuel Nohra has been live Tweeting the rescue operation, sharing photos and videos as firefighters and a helicopter team work to get the people back on the ground.

He reported that a fireman from the climb recently managed to join the pod.

One of those stranded is a 16-year-old boy named Leo, Nohra tweeting that theyoung man is celebrating his birthday this evening.

The mother of one of the trapped children waits anxiously. (Twitter)

The other child trapped at the top of the ride is Luna, whose mother has been on the ground waiting for her daughter to be rescued for over four hours.

“I’d give her the biggest hug she’s ever had,” the mother is reported as saying about how she will react when her daughter is returned to the ground.
