Special tricks are made at the Bronx Zoo, but not intentionally. Wednesday, about thirty sightseers remained stuck in cable cars 100 feet above zoo animals for about five hours. They were rescued by firefighters and nobody was injured.

According to The Associated Press, officials said that 37 people, who were in the Skyfari cable ride, got stranded when one of the gondolas went slightly out of alignment. Zoo spokeswoman Patti Calabrese said that the Skyfari broke down around 5:30 and 30 adults and 7 children were stranded. Police officers and firefighters used a crane and rescued a family from the gondola, allowing the cable ride to start again. The other passengers managed to finish their ride. A long 5-hour ride.

Authorities said that the Skyfari automatically shut down when one of the ride’s 14 gondolas slipped off the cable.

“The cable just jumped a wheel, but the gondola was in no danger of falling,” said Assistant Fire Chief Thomas Haring, according to The Associated Press.

I guess it wasn’t exactly a joy ride. Olga Perez, one of the passengers, said that the firefighters were trying to calm the stranded passengers by talking to them. She came to the zoo with her 9-year-old son, her 14-year-old daughter and relatives visiting from Colombia. They too were stranded, but in other cars. Her son had a cell phone and the two of them managed to talk and remain calm.

The Skyfari, certified by the state Department of Labor, opened in the 1970’s. There had been a storm before the system shut down and police Commissioner Ray Kelly said that it could have been one of the factors which lead to the misfortune.

Zoo Director Jim Breheny said that the cable rides were checked every year and agreed it was an “unfortunate incident but it was a happy ending to an unfortunate incident,” reported The Associated Press.