A series of cable cars stopped working at high altitude over the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps on Thursday, prompting a major rescue operation and leaving 45 people trapped in mid-air overnight, France’s interior minister said.
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Georges-Francois Leclerc, the prefect of the Haute-Savoie region, says initially 110 people were trapped, but 65 were airlifted out by helicopters.
In a statement, La Compagnie du Mont Blanc, which runs the cable auto, gave no reason for the accident but said the cables could become tangled after an abrupt halt to the system or in strong winds.
Dozens of tourists who were trapped in cable cars dangling above the Alps overnight, including a 10-year-old child, have all been safely rescued. Rescuers provided blankets, food and water to help weather the chilly mountain conditions overnight.
By morning, the cable vehicle system had been repaired and the gondolas were sent into motion again.
The five-kilometre (three-mile) -long system, which went into operation in 1950, connects Aiguille du Midi on the French side of the mountains with Pointe Helbronner on the Italian border, offering panoramic views of Mont Blanc.
The problem was caused by cables that got crossed for “unknown reasons” around 1400 GMT (10pm Singapore time) and the employees of the Mont-Blanc Company weren’t able to fix them, Mathieu Dechavanne, chief executive of the company that manages the cable cars, told AFP.
Sixty people are stranded overnight after being trapped inside a cable vehicle in eastern France more than 3,000 metres above sea level. Workers from the operating company tried to untangle the lines but failed.
The cable vehicle crosses between mountain peaks in France and Italy, near the towns of Chamonix, France, and Courmayeur, Italy. “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”, said Kathy Cook, a tourist from MI.
Chamonix Mayor Eric Fournier said earlier in day that “there’s nothing fundamentally to fear” adding, on BFM-TV, that Italian authorities were helping with the rescue.
French police said the evacuation was suspended at 9:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EDT).
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The cable vehicle journey normally takes 30-35 minutes.
