SAN DIEGO — Four men were arrested at the San Diego Zoo on Saturday after officials said they rocked the Skyfari Aerial Tram so hard that it came off the track, causing more than 100 people to be stuck on the gondola.
The four men, ages 20 to 24, were in one of the gondolas when the ride stopped a little after 2 p.m., police Officer Darius Jamsetjee told The San Diego Union-Tribune. He had no further information about their identities or the damage to the tram.
There were no injuries reported. Passengers in the gondolas were suspended in the air for more than two hours.
A San Diego Zoo spokesperson told KSWB-TV that the four were “rocking back and forth” in their gondola, which caused the system to shut down automatically.
SDFD crews at the Zoo assisting patrons who were stuck on the Skyfari ride for about an hour. Now unstuck & patrons safely exiting gondolas on their own. Some may need medical eval. SDFD crews remaining until all are on the ground. #sdzoo pic.twitter.com/LdSudI7AOE
— SDFD (@SDFD) January 30, 2022
More than 100 people on the ride were stuck in the air for just over two hours as emergency crews evacuated the gondolas, KMFB-TV reported.
“We were walking around seeing the animals and then we look up and everyone’s stuck,” park visitor Jordan Gakstatter told KNSD-TV.
“They had told everyone to get out of the line and we noticed as we were going through the park that pretty much it was stopped and people were up there for a really long time,” another park visitor, Marissa Florendo, told the television station.
The ride, which features 28 gondolas that hold up to four people each, typically takes about eight minutes to travel around the zoo, KSWB reported.
Annual zoo ticket holder Hussein Alhamadami was on one of the gondolas with his girlfriend, the television station reported.
“We were just hoping that we were going to get down soon,” Alhamadami told KSWB. “It would swing back and forth for a few seconds and then it would stop.
“They were staying stuff on the speaker. I couldn’t really hear so I had to call customer service and they said it would take about 20 minutes but unfortunately, it took about two hours.”
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