A-12-year-old Alloa schoolboy has spoken of the terrifying moment he and his friends heard the snapping of a wire cable on a fairground ride, moments before they were left stranded 20ft in the air.

Alloa’s Christmas lights switch-on on Saturday turned into a dramatic rescue as emergency services rushed to Candleriggs to rescue the petrified youngsters.

Alloa Academy pupil Ross Black was among those who had to climb down a fireman’s ladder to reach safety.

He said their ordeal lasted about one hour and 40 minutes, leaving them shivering in the freezing conditions.

Many of the 15 youngsters on board the ‘Drop Zone’ ride were only wearing jeans and jumpers.

He said girls were crying and begging to be rescued.

Ross, of Academy Street, said: “We heard the steel wire snapping and that’s when we knew something was wrong.”

Another bystander spoke of hearing a ‘grinding noise’ before the cable snapped.

And one of Ross’s pals, 12-year-old Eilidh MacKay, had just come off the ride.

She said: “It shot up in the air and then when it was on the way back down it suddenly stopped.

“We thought it was a joke at first.

“The guy who was looking after the ride was busy counting his money and didn’t realise anything was wrong so one of the boys phoned the fire brigade.”

Eilidh said some of her trapped friends were crying and one boy was sick when he finally reached the ground.

The accident happened around 5pm.

There were no injuries but the youngsters were left shaken by their experience.

Paramedics treated all those involved as a precaution and Candies Cuisine, who were there as part of the day’s event, remained on site to hand out hot drinks and soup to the frozen kids.

The’ Drop Zone’ ride, owned by Spencer Hiscoe, had been set up near Kilncraigs as part of the annual celebrations.

Two fire crews from Alloa station and a high reach special appliance from Falkirk station attended as did the police and ambulance service.

But the high crane was only able to rescue kids from one side of the ride, the rest had to climb down the ladders.

It’s the first time such an incident has happened at the council-run event.

Councillor Kenny Earle praised the “swift and professional response from the emergency services”. He said: “It was such a cold night that space blankets were used during the rescue and the council established a rest centre at Kilncraigs where the youngsters were later given a precautionary check-up.”

This week Ross said he would go on the ride again.

Ross’ father said: “There’s not much we can do about it. Fortunately the safety mechanism kicked in. What we don’t know is whether the ride had been properly checked beforehand.”

The Health and Safety Executive has begun a full investigation into the incident.