Sentosa sky tower stuck, 36 stranded
-
Jun 11, 2010 - Straits Times
Sky tower stuck, 36 stranded
By Carolyn Quek & Jessica Lim
A MECHANICAL fault with the Tiger Sky Tower attraction on Sentosa Friday afternoon left 36 guests, including three elderly people and eight children, stranded 30m in the air for more than two hours.
The Sky Tower, introduced in 2004, reaches 110m into the sky. It ferries up to 72 passengers to the top via an enclosed, air-conditioned cabin, also known as a gondola. The seven-minute ride affords them commanding views of Sentosa, Singapore, the Southern Islands and parts of Indonesia and Malaysia. Running from 9am to 9pm, it averages about 60 rides daily.
In a joint press statement on Friday night, the attraction's operator Sky Tower, Sentosa Leisure Group - which runs the daily operations of the tower - and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said the fault had occurred at 12.15pm. The passengers were finally brought down at 2.40pm. No injuries were reported.
The revolving gondola was on its way down, five minutes into the seven-minute ride, when it stalled. A Sentosa Leisure Group employee who operates the ride from inside the cabin then contacted the ground staff.
While ground staff tried resetting the ride, engineers made their way up the tower to try and rectify the problem. But when it took longer than the time stipulated in the Sky Tower's emergency plan, the authorities were called in. The SCDF and police reached the scene slightly after 1pm.
The SCDF deployed a team of eight elite Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (Dart) personnel. While three officers were put on standby, five Dart officers climbed up the tower via a ladder inside it.
Said Sky Tower assistant general manager Lee Su Wei: '(The passengers) were slightly shaken but most of them were fine.' Bottled water and biscuits, already kept inside the cabin in case of emergencies, were distributed. Other emergency supplies, such as portable toilets, first aid kits and drawing books were also available. The ride was eventually restarted after more than two hours.
-
Oh oh, it is Sentosa again! More and more bad things are happening at Sentosa since the opening of the casino. Seems like a curse has been placed on Sentosa ever since the start of the RW.
-
cursed may be.
-
Originally posted by Clivebenss:
cursed may be.
ya. INcur the wrath of heaven, so that's it
-
the result of Cheaper, Faster, Better....
They should have pay a few hundred thousand dollars more to hire a more qualified engineers and experience technical staffs to install the rides.
this is the result of high biding cost and cut cost at the most critical aspect of the project....Safety.
-
Profits come first
Safety last
-
Originally posted by Mr Milo:
Profits come first
Safety last
-
Originally posted by Arapahoe:
the result of Cheaper, Faster, Better....
They should have pay a few hundred thousand dollars more to hire a more qualified engineers and experience technical staffs to install the rides.
this is the result of high biding cost and cut cost at the most critical aspect of the project....Safety.
-
Apparently, they didn't update the mechanical works for that thing to be a default down. So in a fail safe scenario, that thing will always return to the ground position. TIme to open tender and call for revamp works.
-
In Hong Kong Ocean Park, they have a similar sky tower.... and it is FREE (included in the admission fee) after you have paid for the Ocean Park admission.
-
Originally posted by Junyang700:
In Hong Kong Ocean Park, they have a similar sky tower.... and it is FREE (included in the admission fee) after you have paid for the Ocean Park admission.
No free lunch in Singapore.