The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs firefighters used aerial ladders and harnesses to rescue 20 people trapped on the Mountaineer Sky Ride at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Wednesday afternoon.
The last of the riders was brought down fromt he chairlift about two hours after it stopped in mid-ride because of a computer code error, said zoo spokeswoman Jean Gordon.
No one was injured.
The sky ride provides a bird’s-eye view of animal enclosures at the zoo, taking riders from the Mountain Outfitters Plaza to an overview.
Six-year-old Matthew Wursten and his siblings Ashlei, 5, and Brandon, 4, were among those who had to be rescued, along with their grandmother Sandy Wursten.
“We might have gotten a little more excitement at the zoo than we were after but the boys really got excited when they saw the fire trucks,” said their grandfather, Doug Wursten.
Fire department spokesman Lt. J.J. Halsey said firefighters were at the zoo last winter training to do exactly this type of rescue.
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