Seven people rescued from carnival ride after it stalled 40 feet in the air at Catholic funfair
‘No one got hurt’, church organisers told local news outlet
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Your support makes all the difference.Seven people were rescued from 40 feet above ground after a carnival ride stalled at a Catholic funfair in St Louis, Missouri.
The group became stuck when a component of the ride broke on Friday night, church leaders who organised the funfair told Fox2 in St Louis.
The group were seated inside a carriage 40 feet above ground for about half an hour before being rescued by Kirkwood Fire and Rescue, who said there were no injuries.
The fire and rescue department said: “Crews, utilising their training in technical rescue, quickly and efficiently secured the ride and extricated all seven occupants without injury.”
Ropes and technical systems were also used by firefighters to free “a total of seven occupants were trapped, some stranded more than 40 feet in the air”.
An image showed rescuers using an aerial ladder, or “cherry picker”, to reach the people stuck on the ride, which was removed from the two-day funfair by American Banner Amusements, its operators.
The attraction was a part of the St Peterfest festival organised by the St Peter Catholic Church in Kirkwood, a western suburb of St Louis, taking place on Friday and Saturday.
St Peterfest has been held annually as a fundraiser for the church for several years, reports said.
Kevin Stillman, a director of the St Peter Church, told Fox2: “St. Louis County came out on Friday and inspected all the rides. They gave clearance, and we felt that we did our due diligence. These things do occur, but the thing I get back to is no one got hurt.”
The church added that Friday’s incident was the first time such an incident had occurred at its festival.
A second car of four people were also stuck several feet off the ground, KDSK-TV reported. They were also freed without incident.
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