Firefighters rescue 28 people stuck upside down on Oregon ride
Firefighters rescued 28 people who were stuck dangling 100ft upside down on a ride at an amusement park in Oregon.
One person with a pre-existing medical condition was taken to hospital as a precaution after the AtmosFEAR ride stopped, Oaks Amusement Park, in Portland, said in a statement posted on social media.
However, they said no one was injured in the incident.
Chris Ryan said he and his wife, who were at the park for his birthday were just about to go on the ride – which operates like a pendulum, with the capacity to swing riders completely upside down – when they saw it was stuck.
He heard people saying: “Oh my God, they are upside down.” He said they decided to walk away because of “how scary the situation was”.
Pic: Tieanna Joseph Cade/AP
They eventually got on a Ferris wheel and heard a loudspeaker announcement that the park was closed and that people should evacuate.
Portland Fire and Rescue said on X that firefighters worked with engineers at Oaks Park, which first opened in 1905, to manually lower the ride, but that crews had been preparing to conduct a high-angle ropes rescue if necessary.
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When the ride stopped, park staff immediately called the emergency services, who arrived around 25 minutes later.
Maintenance workers were then able to return the ride to its unloading position minutes later, the park said in a statement.
Pic: Oregon Amusement Ride-Rescue/AP
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The ride has been in operation since 2021 and has not had any prior incidents, the park said. It will remain closed until further notice.
The park said it would work with the ride’s manufacturer and state inspectors to determine the cause of the stoppage.
“We wish to express our deepest appreciation to the first responders and our staff for taking prompt action, leading to a positive outcome today, and to the rest of the park guests who swiftly followed directions to vacate the park to make way for the emergency responders to attend to the situation,” it said.
Oaks Park’s website says it offers a “uniquely Portland blend of modern thrills and turn-of-the-century charm on a midway that has delighted generations of Northwesterners”.
World
Mourners gather on the Italian coast after at least 60 people killed when migrant sailboat capsized
On the coastline of southern Italy, a small group gathered at the water’s edge.
They could not go any further into the Ionian Sea although they clearly wished they could.
“Is Europe worth all this trouble, I swear to God it’s not,” says a man called Setar.
“Why put your wife and children through this?”
Setar Sheke asked ‘is Europe worth all this trouble?’
Coastguard footage of the boat after it had capsized
Two men mourn at the water’s edge after the tragedy
The shock is real, the feelings raw after the deaths of 60 or more migrants in the central Mediterranean in this incident alone.
The Italian coastguard says 20 bodies have been recovered off the coast of Calabria after a sailboat packed with migrants capsized and sank.
Some 76 people were believed to be on board, and only 11 survived. The rest are missing and feared dead.
Passengers clung to the remains of the semi-submerged craft some 120 miles from the Italian coast but assistance – in the form of the coastguard – took four days to arrive.
Only 11 managed to survive the ordeal.
Smugglers organised the journey from a place near Bodrum in Turkey, using a well-used migration seaway through the Mediterranean.
It took the Italian coastguard four days to respond
Only 11 people survived the incident
More than 70 paid for a spot in the vessel, with the majority formed by Kurds from Iran and Iraq.
Some passengers told their relatives that they would travelling “like VIPs”, but that was just a lie spun by the smugglers.
There were few provisions on board.
We found a woman called Mitra Ghasem Karimi, sitting under the hull of an old boat in the Italian port of Roccella Ionica.
It was clear that Ms Karimi had been crying.
Originally from Iran, she now lives in the Swedish capital of Stockholm. She told me that her brother Pourya, 41, and sister Somma, 36, had boarded that craft.
Mitra Ghasem Karimi said her brother and sister were both on board the ship
Mitra spent €6,000 cash to hire a helicopter to search for any sign of her brother and sister or the boat they were travelling on
Mitra sat under hull of an old boat in the Italian port of Roccella Ionica
She said: “There was no water, there was no food in the boat – but to the families and the people who got in that damn boat, (the smugglers) said yes, there is water, food.
“My brother and sister had life jackets, but they would not let them take them with them. Why?”
Mitra and her husband said they wanted to hire a helicopter so they could fly over the remains of the vessel. I asked them what they were expecting to see.
She replied: “Maybe some bodies, maybe I can find the body of my own brother and sister, to find the bodies and take them to my mum, so my mum can mourn.”
Mitra had stowed her brother and sister’s Iranian passports securely in her bag, and she burst into tears as she took them out to show me.
“They just wanted a better life, the people who got into that boat. Why can’t they have that life in their country, their damn country?” she said.
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It took the best part of a day to hire a helicopter – along with 6,000 Euros in cash – but Mitra did not find the bodies of her brother and sister.
Her siblings remain lost at sea.
But she has recordings of their voices stored on phone and she has hovered above the waters where they lost their lives.
It may have brought her a small measure of peace.
Donald Sutherland, who appeared in films including The Hunger Games and Kelly’s Heroes, has died at the age of 88.
His agency, CAA, said he died in Miami “after a long illness”.
The Canadian actor won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance in the mini-series Citizen X.
In 2017, he received an honorary Oscar.
His son, fellow actor Kiefer Sutherland, said “with a heavy heart” that his father had “passed away”.
“I personally think [he was] one of the most important actors in the history of film,” Kiefer Sutherland posted on X, adding that he was “never daunted by a role – good, bad or ugly”.
“He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that. A life well lived.”
Sutherland with his son Kiefer. Pic: Reuters
In the Hunger Games franchise, Donald Sutherland played President Snow alongside Jennifer Lawrence.
In Kelly’s Heroes he starred alongside Telly Savalas and Clint Eastwood as Sergeant Oddball – on a mission to steal gold from the Nazis.
“I love to work – I passionately love to work,” Sutherland told US talk show host Charlie Rose in 1998.
“I love to feel my hand fit into the glove of some other character. I feel a huge freedom – time stops for me. I’m not as crazy as I used to be, but I’m still a little crazy.”
Sutherland with Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence in 2015. Pic: AP
His “breakthrough performances” were in 1967 movie The Dirty Dozen and MASH, CAA said.
He also took parts in Robert Redford’s Ordinary People and Oliver Stone’s JFK.
He is survived by his wife Francine Racette, sons Roeg, Rossif, Angus, and Kiefer, daughter Rachel, and four grandchildren.
“A private celebration of his life will be held by the family,” CAA said.
Born in St John, New Brunswick, on the east coast of Canada in July 1935, he was the son of a salesman and a mathematics teacher.
He started university in Toronto as an engineering student but switched to English and started acting in college productions.
Serbia have threatened to pull its football team out of Euro 2024 if UEFA doesn’t punish Croatia and Albania for alleged hateful chants.
Jovan Surbatovic, general secretary of the Serbian football association, said they have made a formal complaint about “kill, kill, kill the Serb” chants during the 2-2 draw between Croatia and Albania on Wednesday.
He warned the team could pull out entirely if the European football governing body UEFA doesn’t act on their complaint.
“What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even if it means not continuing the competition,” Mr Surbatovic said, according to Serbian broadcaster PTC.
“If UEFA doesn’t punish them, we will think about how to proceed.”
Serbia face Slovenia in Group C on Thursday, having lost to England 1-0 on Sunday.
England’s Jude Bellingham in action with Serbia’s Nikola Milenkovic. Pic: Reuters
The Serbian FA was charged by UEFA for incidents during that game.
Supporters displayed a banner that “transmitted a provocative message unfit for a sports event” and threw objects inside the stadium, according to UEFA.
That charge came after the Kosovo Football Federation complained about “Serbian fans displaying political, chauvinistic, and racist messages against Kosovo”.
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Reuters news agency reported a group of Serbia fans chanted “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” in central Munich’s Marienplatz on Thursday, ahead of their team’s game against Slovenia.
“We were punished for isolated cases and our fans behaved much better than the others,” Mr Surbatovic said.
“One fan was punished for racist insults and we don’t want it to be attributed to others. We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart.”
UEFA has been approached for comment.
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