Last weekend, a zipper ride malfunctioned at a Southern California carnival, leaving 18 guests trapped in the air.
The incident happened at the Conejo Valley Days Carnival in Thousand Oaks. The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) posted about the situation on Facebook on Monday, reporting that they received a call about the incident around 8:05 p.m. Sunday night.
“Sunday evening, VCFD firefighters performed a technical rescue on approximately 18 people who were trapped on an amusement ride at Conejo Creek Park,” the Facebook post said.
“Firefighters were able to manually lower the amusement ride and successfully rescue all occupants,” the post added.
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Eighteen guests at the Conejo Valley Days Carnival in Thousand Oaks, California, became trapped inside a ride for nearly an hour on Sunday. (Ventura Fire Department via Facebook / iStock)
Officials reported the rescue took about 30 minutes. No injuries were reported, and emergency personnel were on the scene for 35 minutes.
Carnival operator Kastle Amusements confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital. Kastle Amusements owner Kay Kastle said the ride outage began around 7:45 p.m.
“The Zipper Ride’s computerized control system detected the anomaly and shut down the ride as designed,” Kastor said. “Passengers remained safely secured, did not tip over, and were not in danger at any time.”
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The Ventura County Fire Department reported that it helped passengers get off the ride, but carnival operators dispute this. (Ventura Fire Department via Facebook)
“The attraction operators have begun removing passengers from the attraction’s 12 vehicles, following the manufacturer’s recommended procedures,” she added. “Evacuation procedures, while seemingly slow, are carefully designed to maintain balance in the attraction and keep passengers safe at all times.”
Kastle Amusements also disputed the VCFD’s Facebook post, reporting that authorities were “on scene but did not provide assistance.” Kastle told Fox News Digital that staff helped passengers get off the ride.
“All passengers were safely removed by ride staff and there have been no reports of injuries,” she added.
File image from the Conejo Valley Days festival in Thousand Oaks, California. (Carlos Chavez/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
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Kastl Amusements is investigating the cause of the Zipper Ride accident, and no further details are available at this time.
