A total of 14 people, including an 11-month-old baby, were winched to safety by the coastguard helicopter after becoming trapped in Weymouth’s 174-ft Jurassic Skyline tower.

People were trapped for around six hours after the tower stalled on its ascent just after 4pm yesterday.

They were taken to Weymouth Pavilion to be checked over after their ordeal.

One person was taken to the Minor Injuries Unit at Weymouth Hospital for treatment.

They included one family of eight people from Dunstable, a family of three from Cardiff, a couple from Essex and the ride operator, an 18-year-old girl from Weymouth.

Several of those rescue spoke of their dramatic rescues.

Gary Woods from Dunstable, said: “I am not good with heights anyway but we were up there for six hours so it wasn’t the best experience of my life. I have two children who were up there with me. They were really good, thankfully. The young ride operator Hannah did very well. She constantly kept us up to date. I have received four stitches on my left ankle I got it after I got winched.”

Peter Hyre, 75 from Essex, said: “We actually got to the top and it started to go down for 30 seconds and then we heard a huge bang and it just stopped. I have felt dizzy since. It was a very good service me and my wife were winched down. But we had to wait for the helicopter to get fuel which they said would take 20 minutes and it felt a lot longer.”

Sarah Irons, mother of Hannah Peeler, 18, the ride operator. “I came when the helicopter was getting people out. Hannah will be fine but I bet she’s going to be very hungry afterwards.”

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to the scene at 4.12pm to attempt to free the trapped people from the gondola.

Technical rescue crews from Weymouth and Poole, plus the aerial ladder platform from Westbourne and a supporting crew from Dorchester, attended the scene and firefighters ascended the platform to provide support and reassurance to the people trapped inside.

Emergency services including Dorset Police, the local authority and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, explored a number of rescue options but safety precautions stopped these being followed and the coastguard helicopter was scrambled.

Around 7.30pm, the coastguard helicopter started to winch those trapped to safety.

It managed to winch eight people from the tower before it had to break off from the operation to refuel.

The last of the trapped people were rescued at around 10pm.

An eyewitness said: “I was standing at the far end of the Pavilion car park when I heard a loud bang and the viewing platform seemed to be about a third of the way down the tower.

“I think the emergency brake must have kicked in. The emergency services were soon on the scene and a major rescue operation started.”

The Jurassic Skyline tower, formerly known as the Weymouth Sea Life Tower, rises 174ft over Weymouth.

It is situated on the Pavilion peninsula and opened in June 2012.

The passenger gondola turns 360 degrees as it rises and can accommodate 69 passengers at a time.

Mark Oakley of the Jurassic Skyline team said: “There were 13 passengers on board plus a ride operator.

“It should have been a routine ascent to the top. There were two families; a family of eight from Dunstable and a family of three from Cardiff, a couple from Essex and the ride operator, an 18-year-old girl from Weymouth.

“The ride suffered a mechanical fault when three-quarters of the way up to the summit.”

He said that engineers were working to fix the problem.

“We are at the end of what is a very trying and traumatic day. The carriage went up for what should have been a routine trip. When it got three quarters of the way up it suffered a mechanical failure which resulted in the brakes seizing the we were unable to raise or lower the carriage.

“We offer a huge thanks to the coastguard, fire brigade and emergency services. It is a huge relief that they managed to bring everyone down safely. The first to be evacuated was an 11-month-old baby who slept soundly through the whole ordeal.

"We offer our sincerest apologies to them all. We will begin a detailed investigation to find out what the mechanical fault was and why it happened.

"Many people have given thanks to our ride operator, Hannah Peeler, an 18-year-old girl from Weymouth and have said how calm and professional she was to prevent any anxiety during what was essentially a long wait. We will be keeping in touch with the people who were stuck in today’s ordeal and will offer them support if needed.”

Marketing manager of Weymouth Sea Life Adventure Park Raquel Cubillo confirmed today, September 6, that an investigation into the fault which caused the incident is underway.

She said: “We have started an investigation today. The attraction is closed today and we will give a further statement later this afternoon regarding when the attraction will be open again.”

She added: “The relevant teams are working very hard to rectify the fault so the tower can reopen as soon as possible.”