The Singapore Flyer spun to a halt yesterday as a fire caused the world’s biggest observation wheel to stop working. It left over 175 tourists stuck in the air for a good couple of hours.

Tuesday night’s fire in the control room of the Singapore Flyer shut down the 42-storey high observation wheel, leaving visitors stuck for six hours before power was restored. Some visitors had to be lowered in a sling-like device on a rope from one of the observation capsules to get out.

Meta Hartono, an Indonesian visitor, said trapped passengers resorted to urinating in plastic bags while they were hanging in the air. “I love Singapore but I don’t think I’ll come to the Flyer again,” she said.

The news has made it to the UK, and picked up by the early morning tabloid, The Sun. Dubbing the Flyer the Big Wheel, it is no surprise the Brits aren’t too happy we have The Singapore Flyer – which is 30m higher than the London Eye … well they did build theirs 1st, we just made ours bigger.

The Singapore Flyer is worth about S$240 million, and is a private venture backed mainly by German investors and built by Mitsubishi Corp and Takenaka Corp of Japan.