More Amusement Park Riders Speak Out After Being Stranded Upside Down, 'Completely Helpless'

"A lot of people were screaming, throwing up, crying, panicking, not knowing what to do," one visitor said about the incident at Oaks Amusement Park in Oregon

People are sharing stories about their experience on an amusement park ride in Portland, Oregon, that apparently malfunctioned on Friday, June 14, leaving 28 visitors stranded in the air for more than 20 minutes.

Oaks Amusement Park said in a statement that the passengers were riding the AtmosFEAR just before 3 p.m. on June 14 when the ride stopped in its "apex position" and left its riders suspended upside down.

Evie Yannotta, 14, told NewsNation she was stuck hanging for 25 minutes before she and the others were able to exit the ride. She said she knew something was wrong about 10 seconds after the ride stalled.

“A lot of people were screaming, throwing up, crying, panicking, not knowing what to do and feeling completely helpless,” Yannotta told the network. She also said she was traumatized by the experience.

“I had no idea what was going on,” the teen said. “A lot of people were screaming their heads off.”

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Daniel Allen and Jordan Harding, two teenagers from Portland, were both celebrating their high school graduation at the park and selected AtmosFEAR as their first ride of the day.

"I was excited to go on," Allen told NBC affiliate KGW. "When you get stuck up there, I don't think you're so excited anymore."

Harding, 18, previously told PEOPLE that she thought they “were going to die there” in the air.

“I remember thinking that I was going to die like that and miss out on so many major things that I had hoped to experience," she said.

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Speaking with KGW, Harding said she lost all feeling below her waist after some 25 minutes. "I'm not even religious, and I said a prayer,” she said. “I didn't think I was going to live to see right now.”

Hazen Hathorne told FOX affiliate KPTV he was also incredibly uncomfortable while waiting for help. He developed spots on his face from blood vessels that burst while he was upside down, he said.

“Gravity was pulling me down, but the seat was keeping me in,” he said. “So everything was pressuring me against the harness that was coming over me.”

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Hathorne’s friend Lily Dixon was supposed to get on the ride with Hathorne and other friends but got out of line before getting on the ride, she said. She said her blood pressure happened to be low that day.

“If I would have gotten on that ride, I don’t even know what would have happened,” she told KGW. “That could have been really serious for me.”

In its statement posted to social media, the park said that the ride stopped around 2:55 p.m. local time on June 14 and that staff “immediately initially emergency procedures and called 911.”

Responders then arrived around 3:20 p.m. and the riders were brought to an unloading position “within minutes” and subsequently assessed, the park said.

According to the park, one rider who had “pre-existing medical conditions” was taken to the hospital for further evaluation.

In its statement, the park thanked emergency responders and said the ride had not experienced any other issues since opening in 2021.

AtmosFEAR is now closed, according to the park’s website. A spokesperson for the park told PEOPLE that "the investigation into what occurred is in its beginning stages."

• Additional reporting by CHARNA FLAM

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