INVESTIGATIONS are still continuing at a Christchurch family theme park after a ride’s cable snapped on Wednesday.

The incident on the PollyDrop ride at Adventure Wonderland in Christchurch led to one woman, 39-year-old Regan Jones, being taken to hospital and two children, Katherine Hill, 10, and Timothy Hill, seven, being treated for shock at the scene.

Bosses say a back-up cable came into action preventing a much more serious incident and injuries.

Witnesses have reported the seats “plunging” to the ground.

Avril Kirkwood, 65, from Wallisdown in Bournemouth, was at the front of the queue with her daughter, Melanie Driver and two grandsons, Jack and Michael, when the incident took place.

She said: “It was about halfway up when I saw it just come down.

“It just plunged straight down. People just gasped.

“There were pieces falling about next to the ride.

“Everyone was shocked and we left straight away.

“The children were crying and the poor woman just looked shocked.”

Mrs Kirkwood added: “My two grandsons can’t stop talking about it. They were very upset and didn’t sleep very well.

“The thing is we were right at the front, we were next to go on. We won’t go back until we are convinced it is safe.”

Her daughter Melanie Driver, 35, from Southampton said: “My little boys have talked non-stop about it.

“It went up once and they were all happy and cheering and after another time it went back halfway and then just crashed.

“The poor woman looked in shock. It was very scary.”

Russell Lucas, director of Adventure Wonderland said yesterday: “Christchurch council were here this morning and the Health and Safety Executive are expected this afternoon.

“We do now know that the safety cable did come into operation. The ride is cushioned underneath as well.

“The speed was very significantly reduced to what it would have been if the cable had not come into operation.”

He said that there was not significant damage to the seating and said Regan Jones had been discharged from hospital.

The park was open for business yesterday.

A specialised engineer from HSE was expected yesterday afternoon.