A series of cable cars got stuck over the Mont Blanc massif in the Alps, at an altitude of more than 11,000 feet, on Thursday, prompting a major rescue operation.
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Cazeneuve said first aiders spent the cold night in the cable cars with the trapped people, who were given blankets, food and water.
The terraces of Aiguille du Midi, which is nearly 12,400 feet high, offer a 360-degree view of the French, Swiss and Italian Alps.
“This worked in two places, but unfortunately not in the third, and taking into account the fact that time was passing and in line with procedures, we chose to alert our emergency services to carry out a helicopter rescue”, he said.
At least three children and their families were among 33 passengers forced to spend the night in the cabins after weather conditions and the onset of darkness meant the operation to bring them down was halted late Thursday.
“We succeeded in evacuating, in very hard conditions, 60 people in an hour-and-a-half”, Leclerc, told AFP news agency.
It connects the famed Aiguille du Midi peak to the Pointe Helbronner and takes 30-35 minutes.
“The helicopter rescue failed because the fog moved in, so we had to just wait and then they decided they could belay us safely to the ground, and we walked up the glacier to the hut”, she said upon arrival in Courmayeur.
Each cable vehicle holds just four passengers.
A tourist who was trapped overnight smiles as he walks at the foot of the cable auto service after his rescue.
Chief of the cable auto company, Mathieu Dechavanne said at around 8am local time (6am GMT): “It restarted five minutes ago, the last cable (which was blocking the system) was untangled”.
French police said the evacuation was suspended at 9.30pm local time and is scheduled to resume today at 7.15am local time.
They were later aided by an Italian rescue team, which managed to snatch 12 more tourists from the trap, Prefect of Haute-Savoie Georges-François Leclerc said.
The incident happened about 4:30 p.m., after two cables crossed over each other, the official said.
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In 2011, around 40 people were stuck for almost seven hours on the Grande-Motte cable vehicle in the southeastern French Alps after it broke down.
