Ariel Salk and Amy Plant
53 minutes ago
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – 30-seater ride stops in mid-air at Oaks Amusement ParkThose trapped upside down told KOIN 6 News they are still suffering from the aftereffects of their ordeal.
One rider, Evie Jonata, said the experience had affected her physical and mental health at the same time.
“I’m OK. Physically, I still have a headache and a little pain in my upper body,” Yonata said. “Mentally, I think I have PTSD.”
After being trapped upside down in AtmosFEAR for more than 20 minutes, Yonata said the first few minutes were terrifying.
“There were so many people screaming, throwing up, crying, panicking, I didn’t know what to do. I felt completely helpless,” she said. “And no one could tell me what was going on.”
Ilya Praxei watched the whole thing unfold from the sidelines, his son by his side.
“My son has autism so he didn’t understand what was going on and was a bit shocked,” he said. “He heard the phone drop and saw the shoe go off.”
Both Jonata and Plaxy said the park handled the situation with a lack of communication.
“The only communication we had was through a loudspeaker,” Jonata said. “They just kept repeating ‘help is on the way,’ but there was no other confirmation.”
Plaxey said “nothing was being done” by the park at the scene either.
“They still felt like bystanders. They just like to walk around and ask, ‘What’s going on?'” he said. “They had no idea how to act in those situations. I mean, they’re not trained.”
But Portland Fire Rescue said they train for exactly this scenario.
“They visited the site last year and discussed this exact scenario,” said PF&R spokesman Rick Graves. “What if the ride stopped at the top? The Oaks Park ride manager suggested that was highly unlikely, but he had heard it had happened once before with a ride of the same design at a European amusement park.”
The park was able to remove the attraction with no reported injuries. Plaxey said he was offered a refund, but that’s not enough relief. KOIN 6 News asked Plaxey if he plans to return to the park.
“Oh no,” he said, “definitely not.”