SOME 173 people were stuck mid-air in the capsules of the Singapore Flyer yesterday, when the world's largest observation wheel ground to a halt because of a technical fault.

The wheel stopped spinning at about 4.50pm and about three hours later the first passengers - five Malaysian tourists - were lowered using rope harnesses from the one of the lowest suspended capsules.

It was about four storeys off the ground.

Five more passengers in two other capsules, about eight storeys up, were evacuated the same way, before repair teams managed to fix the damaged drive unit and restart the wheel.

It started moving again at about 11.10pm.

It took another 30 minutes or so for the remaining passengers to get off the wheel.

Two people were taken off the capsules in stretchers - a 59-year-old woman who was dizzy and a 10-year-old boy who vomited.

Both were taken to the Singapore General Hospital.

A retired teacher who wanted to be known only as Mr Mohammad, 75, was among the crowd of relatives and friends who had gathered below. His wife was stuck in one of the higher capsules.

After he saw some people being lowered by ropes, he said: 'She is 75 years old. How are you going to rescue her? They should have a better emergency plan and act fast, but it looks like they did not do anything for several hours.'

Following the incident, the Singapore Police Force ordered the Singapore Flyer to cease operations pending a full investigation.

'Operations will only be allowed to resume once the Flyer is certified safe,' the statement added.

Singapore Flyer general manager Steven Yeo said power to one of the wheel's drive units was cut off after an electrical fire.

He said that the wheel has six drive units and at any one time can operate with just three. 'So we have 100 per cent redundancy' said Mr Yeo.

But for some reason the fire cut off all power.

Since the $240 million Singapore Flyer started operations in February, it has stalled three times and it was a different fault every time.

Singapore Flyer is working with its contractor, Mitsubishi Heavy Electric, to find out what went wrong, he said.

Rescue efforts were carried out mainly by Dive Marine, a private company hired by Singapore Flyer. But when they realised that they needed more resources, Mr Yeo said that the SCDF were called in.

Throughout the six hours ordeal, Mr Yeo added that passengers in the capsules were never in any danger.

Intercom links and surveillance cameras allowed staff to monitor and stay in touch with passengers.

But not all passengers were happy with how the company managed the emergency.

Australian tourist Anna-Louise Allen, 51, who was stuck with her husband and teenage daughter, said: 'What was scary was that we didn't know what was going on. We kept on pushing the intercom button to ask what was going on, but we were not given sufficient updates.'

carolynq@sph.com.sg

tansle@sph.com.sg

See also Singapore