An EC-135 helicopter going to rescue passengers trapped in stalled cable cars in Mont Blanc.
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Emergency workers scrambled at first light on Friday to rescue the 33 people, including one child, who were trapped in cable cars high over the slopes of Mont Blanc, the cable vehicle operator said. “The cable vehicle left about 2:30 in the afternoon and it was just before midnight when they finally brought us out of the gondolas, which was really quite an experience”, Kathy Cook, from MI, told the AP after arriving in Courmayeur.
They were among 110 people initially trapped when the cable cars ground to a halt on Thursday afternoon.
“They didn’t get a lot of sleep, it was a unusual experience, but they were warm under blankets and with their families”, Fournier said.
Another tourist, from South Africa, posted a video showing spectacular views of snow-capped mountains taken before the incident.
From there, rescuers brought the passengers by foot to the nearest mountain station.
“We hope to get everyone on Friday morning”, he said, adding that it was “a very complex operation”.
After conditions became foggy, rescuers continued to remove people from the cars closest to the ground using climbing ropes.
Antoine Burnet, marketing director for the company that runs the cable service Mont Blanc, stated that the worldwide passengers were “tired but calm” at the time of their rescue.
“We were there nearly 10 hours in the cable auto”, American tourist Kathy Cook told The Associated Press.
One of the last families to be evacuated from the dangling cable cars on Friday morning said worsening weather on Thursday evening meant they had to spend the night in the freezing cabin.
According to CNN, the cable cars stopped unexpectedly around 4:30 p.m. local time when the cables crossed over each other on Thursday between Aiguille du Midi in France and Pointe Helbronner in Italy.
French police said the rescue will resume on Friday at 7.15am local time. The cars are at an altitude of almost 12,000 feet.
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“The panoramic cable cars rise to an altitude of 12,000 feet, and are operated in the summer season with large numbers of tourists and climbers”, Eleanor says. Another series of cable cars takes skiers and visitors to the top of the Aiguille de Midi year-round.
