6 FLAGS FALL & CATCH
Crowd saves girl in ride ordeal
A teenage girl fell 25 feet from a gondola ride at an upstate Six Flags amusement park over the weekend — but was caught by a group of onlookers and avoided serious injury.
The unidentified 14-yearold from Greenwood, Del., somehow slipped out of a car on the slow-moving cable ride at around 8 p.m. Saturday at Six Flags Great Escape in Queensbury, north of Albany, the Warren County Sheriff ’s Office said.
She can be seen in a video of the incident dangling above the ground, with her neck reportedly stuck in the metal bar that is meant to hold passengers in.
An operator brought the cable cars to a stop after receiving a radio transmission from park staffers that a rider was in distress, the sheriff ’s office said.
“Her neck is stuck!” onlookers can be heard yelling in a Facebook video of the incident posted by witness Loren Lent, 51, of Glenville, NY.
Another child riding in the same cable car, who the sheriff ’s office said was a relative, started yelling, “Help her, help her! She can’t breathe! She’s being choked by the bar!” Lent told The Post.
Meanwhile, a crowd of about eight to 10 park visitors and workers gathered below and prepared to catch the girl.
“They’ll catch you, honey, go ahead!” Lent can be heard calling out to the girl.
After a few moments, the teen lets go and falls into the arms of the waiting parkgoers.
She was treated by emergency medical personnel at the scene and rushed to Glens Falls Hospital.
She was later taken by helicopter to Albany Medical Center, the sheriff ’s office said.
It’s not clear how the girl slipped from her seat in the gondola. Sheriff ’s investigators and park personnel said the ride was in proper working order with all safety equipment intact.
Theme-park spokeswoman Rebecca Wood said the ride was cleared for operation Sunday — but “out of an abundance of caution, [it] will remain closed while we conduct a thorough internal review.”