Around 20 people escaped death by skin of their teeth at the Dreamland funfair in Kankaria on Sunday evening.

The riders were enjoying a ride at the giant wheel, 'Rainbow Ride' when it stopped midway due to some technical snag. Before the fire brigade personnel came to their rescue, the riders had to hang in suspended animation for almost an hour.

Interestingly, instead of getting it repaired, operators fled the spot fearing public fury, sources said. Riders had called for help using their mobile phones. "All the riders were rescued safely and nobody received any injury," said Rajesh Bhatt, deputy chief fire officer of AMC.

The Maninagar police only note of the incident as no casualty was reported. "No riders that got stuck in the ride came forward to lodge complaint against the operator," said PJ Trivedi, police inspector with Maninagar police station.