A woman is speaking about her experience when she got stuck upside down with 27 other people on a theme park slide for more than 20 minutes on Friday, June 14.
Jordan Harding, 18, tells PEOPLE she was on the ride with her boyfriend, 17, and thought she was “going to die right there.”
Harding, her boyfriend and 26 other visitors to Oaks Amusement Park in Portland rode the AtmosFEAR that day. Around 2:55 p.m., the ride stopped in place, hanging them all upside down in their “peak position,” according to a park statement shared on X (formerly Twitter).
Harding explains to PEOPLE, “After about 15 seconds of being upside down, I realized we were stuck. I thought we were going to die there. My boyfriend was scared too.”
She explains that all the other passengers were younger than her because the Portland public schools “were having their eighth grade prom.” He notes that all the children “remained relatively calm.”
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Oaks Amusement Park.
Portland Fire and Rescue/Facebook
However, at that moment she got scared. “I remember thinking that I was going to die like that and miss out on so many important things that I had hoped to experience,” Harding says.
Harding claims the ride operators “waited a few seconds before notifying park maintenance because they thought they were just going to come back.” AtmosFEAR can operate on a 180- or 360-degree setting as it sends its riders spinning through the air in a loop.
According to the amusement park, operators called 911 and began to initiate “emergency procedures.”
Firefighters in Oregon rescued 28 people trapped upside down on a ride at the AtmosFEAR amusement park
She recalls that they announced that the park was closing, and the firemen were on their way, and reveals that she “really started to panic.”
“I didn’t realize until afterwards that the fire department had a plan to lower us down with ropes,” says Harding. “I learned that after that maintenance I was only able to push the bike hard enough and let it rock.”
“I’m not sure if the park should be closed, but I think that ride should be removed,” she adds.
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Oaks Amusement Park.
Portland Fire and Rescue/Facebook
The first emergency services arrived at the scene around 15:20, and in a few minutes all drivers were removed from the ride and safely returned to the ground, the park announced.
She says she’s not sure if “Oaks Park should be held guilty,” but believes they “should offer more compensation than just a refund and a free ticket back.”
“I wouldn’t go on the ride again or go back to the park just because of the emotional pain of it all,” she tells PEOPLE before concluding, “I feel lucky to be alive. When you are about to lose your life, you get a new perspective on life that allows you to enjoy each day a little more.”
The park is closed on that day. Oaks Park’s website says the attraction will be closed until further notice.
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An Oaks Park representative tells PEOPLE that the investigation into the incident is in its early stages.
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Source: HIS Education