Helicopter rescues 11 tourists trapped in Jurassic Tower

As many as 13 people, including an 11-monthold baby were trapped over 100 feet mid-air on a viewing platform of the Jurassic Skyline tower for hours, in its gondola, prior to a dramatic helicopter rescue.

A ‘full investigation’ is on its way to be launched to probe the exact cause of this incident.

The giant tower is located on Festival Pier in Weymouth. It took a rescue operation that involved the Coastguard helicopter, fire services as well as police in a three-hour ordeal that lasted till around 9.55pm. Among the trapped people were two children and an 11month-old baby. The tower started malfunctioning at 1.45pm on Tuesday.

Out of the 13 people who had been present on board, two included staff members at the attraction and 11 were tourists.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Services were summoned to the attraction around 4.12pm after engineers initiated certain efforts to free the stuck gondola. However, they failed in their attempts to do so.

A spokesman for the fire service said that the technical rescue crews from Weymouth and Poole along with the aerial ladder platform from Westbourne and a supporting crew from Dorchester went to the scene.

Firefighters then ascended the tower to offer support and reassurance to the 11 members of the public and two staff within the gondola.

Collaborating with colleagues from Dorset Police, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency as well as the operators of the attraction, the Service made efforts to go about with several rescue options.

But then, a majority of them were discounted on grounds of safety because of the ‘inclement weather’.

The Coastguard helicopter started winching the trapped people to safety around 7.30pm and the three sightseers around 9.55pm.

At the highest point the tower reaches at least 165 feet and here it rotates a complete 360 degrees to offer spectacular views of the Jurassic Coast.

Last month as much as 30 people were stranded at the top of the tourist attraction for over an hour on account of a power cut.

Merlin Entertainment that owns the tower mentioned in a popular microblogging site that the trapped people have been returned to the ground absolutely safely. They also added a note of gratitude to the fire rescue team and Coastguard teams for their prompt assistance and cooperation.

The authorities of Jurassic Skyline added a note to the site apologizing for the inconvenience.

They then went on to add that the tourist attraction would be shut down the next day as a full investigation would be underway.