Two teenagers were rescued from the Slingshot ride in Kissimmee, Florida, on Thursday after the ride apparently malfunctioned.
The following written content from Jon Jankowski
Crews said a non-load-bearing cable broke during the ride. The ride was about 30 to 40 feet in the air during the rescue. Investigators said as a safety precaution, the ride can’t lower the pod below 30 feet when the cable is not functioning.
The riders refused medical treatment. Firefighters from the Osceola County Fire Rescue and Kissimmee Fire Department assisted in the rescue. Workers returned to the site Friday morning to investigate what caused the malfunction.
According to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, the attraction is owned and operated by Old Town Slingshot and was originally permitted in November 2001. The ride was last inspected March 19, and no issues were identified, the agency said.
John Stine, the director of marketing and sales for Old Town Slingshot, said the riders were safe during the incident.
“The ride is designed with redundancy, so if something like this does happen, it’s very unusual to begin with, but if it does, then we have a backup system and everything went fine. The only unfortunate situation is they were suspended on the ride for a few hours,” Stine said.
He said the company does daily inspections and the state conducts inspections twice each year. Read more from Click Orlando
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