Emergency responders have descended upon a theme park in Motherwell, Scotland, after a roller coaster came off the tracks and plummeted dozens of feet to the ground, according to news reports.
The nightmarish scene unfolded around 4 p.m. Sunday on the Tsunami ride at M&D’s theme park and left multiple people “trapped upside down on the ride,” a witness told the BBC.
Authorities have evacuated the park, the BBC reported. Nine children and two adults have been injured, it reported.
James Millerick, a witness, told the Sunday Express that he heard “shrieks” from other customers and that the roller coaster had come off the track entirely and was upside down. “There were maybe seven or eight individuals, mostly of younger age between maybe 10 and 15 years old, that were actually trapped,” he said.
“The harnesses were still on as well so there was absolutely no movement,” he added.
Witness Katie Burns said she had just ridden the coaster before it crashed, according to Sky News.
“Honestly never been so scared in my life, with this weather they should not be on,” she reportedly said on Facebook.
Caitlin Barnes, 13, told the BBC that she was nearby when the ride fell to the ground.
“I heard first of all a loud bang,” she said. “At first I thought it was part of the ride because it had been a very loud ride the whole day. But when I turned around to look at it I saw the carriage just hurtling to the ground and then it crashed on top of another ride.”
“I could see that there was lots of people trapped – probably up to 10 – and I saw a girl upside down, stuck,” she added. “A lot of people in the park ran over and tried to help and there was loads of people just running about trying to tell people to call ambulances and call emergency services.”
Bad weather and extremely wet conditions had forced park authorities to close multiple rides at the park before the incident, the paper reported.
On its website , the amusement park describes the Tsunami as “Scotland’s only inverted roller coaster,” reaching speeds of 65 kmph, about 40 mph, “through corkscrew twists, turns and loops over 650km of track.”
The BBC reported that children younger than 10 are barred from riding the roller coaster and that anyone under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
The BBC reported that six ambulances and six fire engines responded to the scene, as well as “a number of specialists.” The Independent reported that the carriages fell as high as 65 feet and landed on another ride.
Witnesses described the scene as “carnage,” according to the Express. Park visitors who rushed to the scene attempted to turn the roller coaster right side up to free trapped riders, the paper reported.
Images posted on Twitter appeared to show multiple carriages turned on their side with limbs dangling out the side.