Sixty-five people were evacuated by helicopter late on Thursday but the rescue operation had to be suspended when night fell and clouds hampered visibility.
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Early Friday morning, the remaining passengers still suspended high in the air were brought down to safety.
The sun rises over the Mont Blanc, 3,842 meters (12,605 feet), between Italy and France, as seen from a helicopter, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
Passengers were transferred to other cable cars that brought them down the mountain to Courmayeur in Italy.
After the cables in the system became tangled yesterday, possibly by high winds, four rescue helicopters were sent to airlift 65 passengers from cars along the line, …
Twelve people were rescued late Thursday night because their cable cars were hanging low enough that rescue workers could get to them safely, said Iaian Cleaver, an employee of Mont-Blanc Company, which owns the cable auto service.
Local television stations have reported that the cables had become tangled in high winds.
The first two sections of cable cars were expected to reopen at approximately 10 a.m. local time this morning, but the third section, where the tourists were stranded, is still being cleared for use and will likely not be open again for 24 hours.
The last of the passengers were rescued safely Friday morning.
A total of 36 cable cars were halted during the incident.
“We succeeded in evacuating, in very hard conditions, 60 people in an hour and a half”, the prefect of the Haute-Savoie region, Georges-Francois Leclerc told AFP.
The cable cars joined the mountains of Aiguille du Midi and Pointe Helbronner at an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet.
Rescuers provided provided blankets, food and water were in constant touch with those trapped and had to spend the night in the cable vehicle, media reported.
The cable vehicle connects the 12,605-foot Aiguille de Midi mountain in France with the 11,358-foor Pointe Helbronner in Italy.
Stéphane Bozon, the rescue commander from the Chamonix Gendarmerie, said: “We were in touch with them all night”. A cable auto system between it and Pointe Halbronner become stuck, with 110 people on board.
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The cable auto journey normally takes 30-35 minutes.
