Investigation continues into what caused ride to stop at Indianapolis Zoo
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Department of Homeland Security said it will be taking a closer look to figure out what caused a ride at the Indianapolis Zoo to suddenly stopped working.
10 people, including three children were stuck on the Skyline Ride for at least two hours.
The ride will be closed for now while the zoo waits to hear back from state inspectors and engineers to figure out the problem.
A spokesperson for the zoo said something caused the breaker to trip in one of the gondola motors and triggered an error code for everything to stop. At this time they’re not exactly sure what happened.
Chopper 8 flew over the scene Thursday afternoon as emergency crews used a lift to rescue seven adults and three children, including a 19-month-old baby.
“There are so many safety measures on this ride and every single one worked correctly to stop if its foreseeing something happening,” said Judy Palermo, a senior public relations manager with the Indianapolis Zoo.
But this isn’t the first time where firefighters had to respond to an emergency call at the zoo.
Palermo said it was last year when the attraction closed after six people were stuck and had to be rescued.
“Last October, the drive shafts failed. Each gondola has a drive shaft. When it failed everyone got off safely at that point,” said Palermo. “We had the ride manufacturer take a look and see if there were metal fatigues or what was going on.”
Palermo said the Skyline Ride reopened just in time for the Memorial Day Weekend after passing its yearly inspection.
“During the investigation we just closed it for the rest of the season. When we reopened it in the spring, we had replaced the drive shafts,” said Palermo. “Everything was working well, the state inspected the ride and it was fine.”
24-Hour News 8 learned that zoo staff trained in the spring to operate the ride before the reopening.
Palermo said 75 firefighters from the Indianapolis Fire Department also trained on site in case of an emergency.
“The safety of everyone, all of our guest, and our staff, our animals, it’s just a number one priority here,” said Palermo. “We will always take everything very seriously and make sure everyone is safe.”
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security told 24-Hour News 8 it will continue to work with the zoo to figure out what triggered the breaker.
At this time it is still unclear what the time frame would be for the inspection.
According to records provided by Homeland Security, the Skyline Ride has been inspected at least six times since it opened last year.