Mihama Carnival Park is resuming running its Ferris wheel today. The Ferris wheel, a landmark of Mihama American Village malfunctioned a week ago and its operation was stopped until the cause was identified.

Okamoto Seisakusyo Co., Ltd., of Osaka, the company that operates the Ferris wheel, announced Friday that the Ferris wheel is back in business and the glitches that led to the stoppage are fixed.

A company spokesman said that an electromagnetic valve that adjusts the oil pressure in the motor that runs the ride malfunctioned, and that caused the wheel to stop and left 12 riders, including 6 small children, stranded in its gondolas on July 22 .

According to Okamoto Seisakujo, the engineer operating the ride tried to release the brake and pull down the gondolas when the incident occurred, but it did not work since the valve to control the brake malfunctioned.

Officials at the company say that they now have prepared spare electromagnetic valves for such emergencies, and have revised the manual on how to enable riders to escape in case the Ferris wheel stops. They stress that they are dedicated to the safe operation of the Ferris wheel and to do their utmost to make sure this kind of an incident does not happen again.

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