(CNN) -- A malfunction at a festival swing ride in Connecticut sent children crashing into each other and onto the ground -- and raised new questions about the safety of such rides. 
 
 Families were enjoying a sunny Sunday afternoon at the Norwalk Oyster Festival when a ride called the Zumur experienced a mechanical failure that caused it to stop in mid-air, injuring 18 people, mostly children, the Norwalk Police Department said. 
 
 "It was a big boom, a big crash, three or four times over," Deyo Ello told News 12. "They slammed into the base of (the ride), and then you heard a whole bunch of screaming." 
 
 The ride -- which spins swings tethered to metal arms in an elliptical motion -- suddenly came to a jerking stop, "causing riders to collide with each other," according to the statement issued by police. 
 
 Shuan Marsh was in line at the ride when the accident happened. 
 
 "It was just injured kids everywhere. The parents ripping out the gate just trying to get to their kids," he said. "It was just horrible." 
 
 Twelve children and one adult were taken to hospitals for treatment, News 12 reported. An 8-year-old boy remained hospitalized late Sunday with non-life threatening injuries. 
 
 Ride inspected 
 
 Stewart Amusement, which owns and operates the rides at the festival, said state officials inspected the ride Friday, two days before the accident. 
 
 "It was a mechanical failure," said Richard Stewart, president of the company. "It never happened before. We hope it never happens again. " 
 
 Stewart said his company has been cooperative with authorities, who are still investigating, and plans to have the machine taken and apart and inspected once authorities are done. 
 
 In a statement on its Facebook page, the Norwalk Seaport Association, the festival organizer, said the well-being of the children and families involved was its only concern. 
 
 The festival temporarily shut down rides after the accident but reopened them Sunday evening after fire investigators and the ride company inspected them. 
 
 Safety record 
 
 "Portable rides have a very good safety record," according to amusement park safety expert Ken Martin. "In the state of Connecticut, however, they are only inspected once a year." 
 
 And that's the rub for many folk. The rules are different from state to state, with six states -- Alabama, Mississippi, Nevada, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Utah -- having no oversight at all. 
 
 Traveling rides like the one that malfunctioned in Norwalk come under federal scrutiny by the Consumer Product Safety Commission. 
 
 And they're actually inspected more than fixed rides, such as at amusement parks like Six Flags and Disney World. They fall under state jurisdiction and are often inspected by the state only when they're installed. 
 
 That's something that needs to change, in Martin's opinion. 
 
 "There is no federal oversight of fixed amusement parks and that is part of the problem," he said. "An amusement ride is an amusement ride. They need the same reporting systems, the same type of oversight, the same inspection guidelines for amusement rides all across the country." 
 
 In July, Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington shut down its Texas Giant roller coaster after a woman was thrown from her seat and plunged to her death. 
 
 Between 1990 and 2010, more than 92,000 children were injured in amusement ride-related incidents, according to a study by the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio. That's an average of more than 4,000 injuries per year. The study looked at both mobile and fixed rides. 
 
 It could have been us 
 
 For those who witnessed Sunday's accident at the Oyster Festival, it was heartbreaking. 
 
 "Just to see all those poor little kids just in so much pain and everything going on, it was really scary," Marsh said. 
 
 But for Ello, it hit even closer to home. 
 
 He had tried to go on the ride with his daughter, but they were turned away when she didn't meet the height requirements. Seeing injured children lying on the ground after the accident was devastating, he said. 
 
 "If she was tall enough, that would have been her," he said, grabbing his daughter's hands. "My heart is broken. I'm speechless. It ruined the day, you know." 
 
 CNN's Rick Martin and Sho Wills contributed to this report. ||||| A dozen children were injured when an amusement ride at a Connecticut fair broke down on Sunday, sending the swinging riders careening into each when the ride came to a sudden halt, authorities said. 
 
 One adult was also among the 13 people transported to hospitals after the mishap at Norwalk's Oyster Festival. 
 
 Norwalk police Lt. Paul Resnick said an 8-year-old boy was admitted to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The rest were treated and released. 
 
 Five other people refused treatment at the scene, police said. 
 
 The rotating, swing-type "Zumur" ride lifts riders up and away as it spins, authorities said. State police said a mechanical failure caused the ride to suddenly stop and those on board collided with each other. 
 
 Police initially said some of the ride's occupants had fallen to the ground but a preliminary investigation by state police indicates no riders were ejected from the ride or fell from it. 
 
 Resnick said children were being tended to by their parents on the ground when he arrived shortly after the accident. 
 
 The festival's organizer, the nonprofit Norwalk Seaport Association, said it directed the ride's operator, Stewart Amusement, to shut down the entire ride area until state inspectors completed a check. The other rides later reopened and the rest of the festival remained open on its third and final day. 
 
 Stewart Amusement didn't immediately return phone and email messages seeking comment. Its rides are inspected by its own staff every day, by state and local inspectors weekly and by engineers and insurance inspectors each year, the company's website said. 
 
 "Your safety is of critical importance to us," the site says. "Not only do we have an obligation to provide our guests with the safest equipment and environment possible, but also our ultimate success depends on it." 
 
 Stewart Amusement says it has provided rides and other attractions since 1983 at events in Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut and neighboring Westchester and Putnam counties in New York. 
 
 Troopers with state police fire and explosion unit were investigating, department spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said. 
 
 Festival organizers posted a statement about the accident on its Facebook page. 
 
 "Our first and only concern is for the wellbeing of those involved and their families," the statement said. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Lorna Gordon: "There was silence followed by screaming" 
 
 Eight children and two adults have been injured after a rollercoaster derailed and crashed at a theme park in North Lanarkshire in Scotland. 
 
 Police said the injured were all being treated at local hospitals. 
 
 Six ambulances and six fire engines were at the M&D's park near Strathclyde Park, Motherwell, after being called at 15:37. It was evacuated shortly after. 
 
 One adult and one child are in a stable condition and three children are expected to be allowed home later. 
 
 The injured are being cared for at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Wishaw General and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, although details of their injuries have not been released. 
 
 The incident involved the Tsunami ride, which can travel at up to 40mph through corkscrew turns and loops. One eyewitness said "people were trapped upside down on the ride" following the crash. 
 
 Police Scotland revised down the number of injured from its initial estimate of 11 and confirmed there were nine passengers on the ride at the time. 
 
 Image copyright Faye Donnelly 
 
 Image copyright Demi Campbell 
 
 Ch Insp David Bruce of Police Scotland said: "On arrival it became clear a series of five gondolas connected on a train on the Tsunami ride have detached from the rails, struck the superstructure and then struck the ground. 
 
 "They [the gondolas] fell less than 20 feet. It would appear that they have been coming round a bend and at that point it has detached. 
 
 "It's an inverted rollercoaster which means that the riders hang in gondolas below the rails rather than sit above them. 
 
 Mr Bruce could not say what speed the passengers had been travelling at when the carriage left the rails, but he confirmed it "hadn't struck anything on the ground". 
 
 'People were crying with shock' 
 
 Caitlin Barnes, 13, had been on the ride twice during a day out to the park with three friends. She was standing nearby when it crashed. 
 
 She said: "I heard first of all a loud bang. At first I thought it was part of the ride because it had been a very loud ride the whole day. 
 
 "But when I turned around to look at it I saw the carriage just hurtling to the ground and then it crashed on top of another ride. 
 
 "I could see that there was lots of people trapped - probably up to 10 - and I saw a girl upside down, stuck. 
 
 "A lot of people in the park ran over and tried to help and there was loads of people just running about trying to tell people to call ambulances and call emergency services. 
 
 "When the emergency services got here they were just shouting at us all to leave the park and they evacuated the whole park and cordoned off around the carriage. 
 
 "I saw one boy who was probably about 11, I would have said, who got out and he was sitting just next to it - shocked obviously - with his parents. 
 
 "Everybody was shocked and upset and a lot of them were crying with shock." 
 
 Image copyright Demi Campbell 
 
 'Children crying' 
 
 The theme park is now closed but Police Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) remain on site this evening. 
 
 A joint investigation is being conducted by police and the HSE. 
 
 Eyewitness Katie Burns said she had just finished riding the Tsunami and was walking past when the carriage crashed with children on board. 
 
 On Facebook, she said: "Literally got off the Tsunami at M&Ds and then walking past and the next lot of people get on and the full thing goes off the tracks. 
 
 "Honestly never been so scared in my life, with this weather they should not be on. 
 
 "Kids and adults are still on it upside down, it's like something out a horror film, children crying and everything. 
 
 "Literally can't believe this, my heart goes out to everyone on it, a full load came off the track and on the pavement, like a horror film worse thing ever heard and seen, can't get over this." 
 
 Image copyright M&D's Image caption The Tsunami, pictured previously, is one of the fastest rides at the park 
 
 'Terrible accident' 
 
 First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said: "My thoughts are with everyone involved in this terrible incident at M&D's theme park, especially those injured." 
 
 And Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservative Party, said: "Awful news coming from M&Ds. Deeply concerning - our thoughts are with those affected and with emergency responders." 
 
 Richard Lyle MSP, whose constituency includes Strathclyde Country Park where the theme park is situated, called for a "full investigation" into the incident, saying he was "horrified at this terrible accident". 
 
 It is not the first time the park has experienced problems with its rides, including Tsunami. 
 
 Nine passengers, including children, were stranded for eight hours on the ride in July 2011 when it came to a halt 60 ft (18.2m) above the ground. The malfunction was blamed on a broken lift chain. 
 
 In March, eight people had to be rescued by firefighters when the park's Tornado rollercoaster ground to a halt 20 ft (6m) in the air. 
 
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– A dozen children were hospitalized yesterday after a swing ride malfunctioned at a festival in Connecticut, sending children crashing into each other and the center of the ride in front of their horrified parents. One adult was also injured as the ride at Norwalk's Oyster Festival lost power, the AP reports. Witnesses saw bleeding children with injured necks and legs and the most seriously injured child, an 8-year-old boy, is still in the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. "It was just injured kids everywhere. The parents ripping out the gate just trying to get to their kids," a witness tells CNN. "It was just horrible." The owner of the ride, which spins swings attached to metal arms, says his company is cooperating with state investigators.