What should have been a fun day at a Six Flags Great Escape amusement park in Queensbury, New York, turned terrifying for a 14-year-old girl who slipped off a gondola ride 25 feet in the air.
In a Facebook video captured by fellow park guest Loren Lent on Saturday, June 24, the girl dangles from the Sky Ride as the crowd below tries to help. An operator stopped the ride after they received word of a rider in distress, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
The teen was reportedly on the two-person ride with her younger brother. “Her neck is stuck,” someone is heard shouting in the clip as the teen twists in midair.
As she loses her grip, a bystander assured the unidentified girl that the crowd below would break her fall.
“They’ll catch you honey,” a male is heard yelling. “Go ahead!” The teen then tumbled from the ride into the crowd before being rushed to Albany Medical Center. According to the Warren County Sheriff’s Office, the teen was in stable condition with no serious injuries.
“It was horrifying,” Lent told WRGB of the scary incident. He added on Facebook: “Thanks to the guys who banded together to catch her and the guy who climbed the tree to move the branches out of the way.”
There was no issue with the Sky Ride, according to Six Flags. ”There does not appear to be any malfunction of the ride, but we have closed the attraction until a thorough review can be completed,” a park official told WRGB.
A 47-year-old man who helped catch the teen was treated for a back injury and released from the hospital.
