Riders rescued after US Ferris wheel stops

Riders rescued after US Ferris wheel stops

The largest Ferris wheel on the US east coast has reopened, a day after riders became stranded and had to be evacuated from the towering 120-metre attraction.

The Orlando Eye came to a halt on Friday afternoon and 66 riders had to be taken off in an operation that lasted about three hours.

Orlando Eye spokeswoman for Dipika Joshi told the Orlando Sentinel: “The team of technicians has successfully completed the necessary work to resolve the technical default that occurred yesterday within the system that monitors the wheel’s position.”

No one was hurt in the stoppage on Friday.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokeswoman Kathleen Kennedy said the attraction, which is billed by operators as the largest observation wheel on the east coast, had initially stopped for more than 45 minutes on Friday.

Power was restored via a back-up generator and a technical team at the attraction, backed by firefighters, carried out the task of removing riders from the enclosed capsules, officials said.

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