Two tourists from Poland got an extra thrill on the Wiener Riesenrad, the giant Ferris wheel at Vienna’s Prater amusement park: an attendant turned off the ride and went home, leaving them in the dark at the top of the 212-foot ride.
The couple, last to board the ride near the end of the day, were still circling when the operator handed over controls to a colleague tasked with shutting down for the night. The new operator apparently did not know there were still passengers on board.
At first, according to reports, they enjoyed the romantic view, but after about 40 minutes they decided it was time to go home. A cellphone call brought a park worker back to the scene to let them down.
The Riesenrad was the world’s tallest until 1985, and figures prominently in a scene from The Third Man, set in postwar Vienna.
