The Sky Tower observation ride at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida got stuck due to a malfunction, leaving passengers stranded in the air for hours before being rescued by authorities Monday, according to WESH Orlando.
More than 50 passengers were trapped for about three hours, 200 feet above the ground until Orange County firefighters and park authorities jointly rescued the riders by safely lowering the platform back to the ground.
The ride takes patrons 400 feet high in order to give them a bird's eye view of the theme park.
"The Sky Tower cabin is now on the ground and all guests and team members have exited safely," said SeaWorld, according to ABC News. "The SeaWorld guest services team and on-site medical personnel worked closely with individual guests to address their immediate needs and assist them in any way possible."
There were no injuries reported and technicians are still trying to figure out what caused the observation deck to malfunction.
"It was going down and started jerking and, apparently, the emergency brake locked up," said one of the passengers on the ride.
"It went up fine, we twirled on the way up and looked around. It was great, started coming down and all of a sudden, halfway down, it stopped," said a rider who live streamed the three-hour ordeal via Periscope, according to WESH.
Last year, nearly 50 guests were stranded 220 feet in the air after a similar elevator ride at SeaWorld San Diego got stuck during a power outage, as HNGN previously reported.
“@wjxt4: WATCH LIVE: People stuck on Sky Tower ride at @SeaWorld Orlando --> https://t.co/wh4OuaiKTn pic.twitter.com/6mLD2P3b0N” This is nice..
— Kyle Horton. (@kylehortonn) December 21, 2015
SeaWorld Orlando's Skytower cabin is now on the ground and all guests and team members have exited safely. Read more pic.twitter.com/jAWTwCd1zk — SeaWorld (@SeaWorld) December 21, 2015
Developing: Passengers stuck on tower ride at @SeaWorld Orlando, via @WESH: pic.twitter.com/rw4RE1DJdS — WIS News 10 (@wis10) December 21, 2015
El Sky Tower se atascó y llevan varias horas encerrados... Uyyyy.... #seaworld #skytower A photo posted by Orlando (@orlando_sonido) on Dec 21, 2015 at 11:40am PST
