One scary and stressful encounter left a teen believing that she and everyone else were going to die. She found herself swinging upside down on a ride at an Oregon amusement park.
According to Jordan Harding, 18, who was on a date with her boyfriend at Oaks Amusement Park in Portland, Oregon, their enjoyable evening was abruptly ended when they were left suspended upside down for twenty excruciating minutes on the AtmosFEAR thrill coaster.
After about 15 seconds of being upside down, she realized they were “stuck.” She felt that this was the way she and her boyfriend were going to die. She said her boyfriend was also terrified.
As she and 28 others were left upside down, the 18-year-old said that her life flashed before her eyes.
She remembers thinking that she would die and thought all about the things she would miss out on, so many significant things that she had hoped to experience.
Most of the riders, according to Harding, were on a field trip with classmates when the attraction abruptly stopped.
She said she tried to stay calm while the ride operators and Portland Fire & Rescue crews attempted to safely return the more than two dozen people to the ground.
On Friday night, the pendulum-style attraction broke down on the first day of the summer park opening.
According to the Fire Department, park engineers and fire authorities collaborated to “manually lower” the upside-down attraction.
Following their evacuation, the riders were assessed medically, according to a fire bureau official.
Until further notice, the attraction will be shuttered, according to Oaks Park, the oldest amusement park in Oregon.
