22 people get stuck on ride at Knott’s Berry Farm for more than two hours

A Knott's Berry Farm ride got stuck for more than two hours today, leaving about two dozen riders suspended several stories in the air until park workers managed to manually lower the ride to the ground.

The Sol Spin ride got stuck about 2 p.m. at the theme park at 8039 Beach Blvd., said Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Thanh Nguyen.   

Orange County firefighters and paramedics were on standby in case they were needed, but the theme park's employees were able to get the guests down about 4:30 p.m., Nguyen said.

It remained unclear what caused the ride to get stuck. The ride "experienced technical difficulties causing the ride to stop mid-cycle,'' said Knott's spokeswoman Valarie Sukovaty.

The 22 guests on board were safely let down and no one was injured, Sukovaty said.

Video from the scene showed staffers appearing to use a winch and cables to manually bring the ride back to the ground in its usual loading position. Once on the ground, the harnesses were lifted, and riders walked off the ride.

Cal/OSHA officials will investigate, officials said.