For nine people, a roller coaster ride in the Belgian amusement park turned into a sheer horror trip. They were stuck for hours – and then Storm Zeynep came along.
Plopsland De Panne – The name of the amusement park sounds pretty cute at first. It is called “Plopsaland De Panne”, located directly on the French border in the Flemish part of Belgium. The name of the roller coaster there: “Ride to Happiness”. What happened to nine visitors last Friday (February 18) is more like a horror trip than a happy trip.
Breakdown in amusement park: Visitors are stuck in the roller coaster for six hours during a storm
At a height of 32 meters, they were stuck for several hours until rescue workers were able to free them from their predicament – like these visitors in a Japanese amusement park. * The reason for the unwanted stop was the rising storm “Zeynep”, which was not only in Germany , but also raged in Belgium. Still, that didn’t stop visitors to the park from taking a spin on the Ride to Happiness roller coaster.
They should quickly regret the decision, because just a little later, around 5:15 p.m., as RTL writes, the ride got stuck. The fire brigade was on site quickly – however, the special nature of the roller coaster put a spanner in the works for the rescuers. The ordinary ladder did not reach the people standing 32 meters high. They could only be freed with the help of a crane.
Recovery was difficult in a storm – rescuers need a crane
However, the now very strong gusts made the rescue massively difficult. “Due to the strong wind, it was initially difficult to keep the crane and crane basket stable,” said Kristof Louagie from the Westhoek fire brigade. Extra ropes secured the people so they could go into the crane’s cage and be taken down. The fire brigade was only able to save the first two visitors at 10 p.m. The remaining seven had to persevere and only had solid ground under their feet again at 11:30 p.m.
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They were stuck in the storm at a height of 32 meters for more than six hours. All nine rescued were taken to the hospital as a precaution. However, fireman Louagie was able to give the all-clear quickly. “Most people have mild symptoms of hypothermia, but overall everyone is fine.”
Freizeitland spokesman: Critical wind speed had not yet been reached
Why were visitors even allowed to get on a roller coaster when there was a storm warning? Plopsaland spokesman Steve Van den Kerkhof explained in an interview with vtm nieuws that the critical wind force had not yet been reached at the time of the breakdown. The visitors were lucky in their misfortune, as he said: “Fortunately they were sitting up straight and not on their heads. In addition, they were well secured. Luckily there weren’t any small children among them either.” Five Belgians, three Germans and one Dutchman were among those affected. In other amusement parks, such as Europapark Rust*, things don’t always go according to plan. (mell) **tz.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
