Dozens stranded on theme park ride at Chessington World of Adventures

All 39 people who were stranded on a theme park ride in Surrey for three hours were rescued on Sunday evening after an emergency operation.

Firefighters were called to Chessington World of Adventure at around 5pm on Sunday after scores of visitors, including young children, had become trapped on the Rameses Revenge ride due to a fault.

One witness said by the time the fire crews arrived the group had already been suspended 20ft in the air for over an hour.

Two people suffered asthma attacks and many became “agitated and stressed” during the incident, the London Fire Brigade said.

Justin Coo, from London Fire Brigade, children as young as eight were likely to have been on the ride.

But due to the minimum height requirement of 1.4 metres, he said there were not believed to be any younger children on board.

One mother, whose 13-year-old daughter was on the ride, said the attraction stopped at around 4pm when the electrics failed.

She told Sky News: "They have been sending up water and sun cream to them because it was rather hot initially.

"They are taking children down first. There are some kids on there with learning difficulties that are being brought down."

Fire crews had to cut through harnesses to release those on board.

The theme park tonight confirmed there were no injuries and apologised to those affected.

In a statement, Chessington said: "At 4.06pm the Rameses Revenge at Chessington World of Adventures Resort in Surrey experienced a technical problem. This resulted in the automatic fail-safe system bringing the ride to a controlled stop. Experienced resort staff were on site immediately to assist with guest care.

"No guests were injured in the incident. A small number of people were on the ride at the time and the resort's engineers worked with the emergency services implementing well-rehearsed procedures to ensure their comfort and safe removal from the ride.

"We are very sorry for any discomfort our guests experienced during the delay."

A spokesman confirmed the attraction would be open tomorrow.