Crowd catches teenage girl as she falls 25 feet from amusement park ride in New York

Amusement park goers in upstate New York came to the rescue of 14-year-old girl who had slipped out of a gondola ride and was left dangling 25 feet off the ground.

Video of the incident shows the girl at Six Flags Great Escape Amusement Park barely holding on to the ride, as her younger brother sits next to her screaming hysterically for help.

Matthew Howard Sr, from Schenectady, New York, was just leaving the amusement park when he heard someone screaming, he told the Associated Press.

The 47-year-old and his 21-year-old daughter, Leeann Winchell, positioned themselves beneath the girl as the ride was stopped and security staff came running to help.

A crowd of people gathered, with some filming the incident as it unfolded.

"I said: 'It's 'OK! It's OK to let go, I'll catch you, honey. I'm not going to let you fall," Howard said.

Loren Lent, who filmed the incident, told the Washington Post that as a crowd gathered, one person climbed into a tree to try to break off or move branches. "That was a very good idea," he said. "It was just good to see people band together to do what they could do."

The girl soon lost her grip and dropped down to where the father and daughter were waiting, with the pair breaking the girl's fall, as they tumbled to the ground themselves.

Howard received treatment for a minor back injury following the daring rescue and was later released. "I couldn't let that little girl die," he told the AP. "No one wants to put himself underneath a body like that, but I couldn't stand by and watch."

According to the Warren County Sheriff's Office, the teenage girl from Greenwood, Delaware was taken to Albany Medical Centre and is in stable condition with no serious injuries.

Winchell and her father visited the girl on Sunday (25 June) and said she was in good spirits. The girl's little brother was shaken but otherwise uninjured.

Lent told the AP that his wife and 10-year-old daughter had been on the ride and watched the incident from above the girl. "My daughter was just traumatized," he said. "She was crying for about a half-hour after."

He claimed park employees took too long to stop the ride and said the ride lacked a seatbelt.

The ride was inspected by officials and found to be in proper working order, a park official said.