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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It was unclear if there were injuries or exactly how many cars are stuck.
He said he and his friends and family had been on the cable auto for about 10 minutes when it stopped unexpectedly near l’Aiguille du Midi.
They were evacuated through trap doors in the cars, using ropes to reach the ground 40 metres below.
“The cable auto 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.
The ordeal began Thursday afternoon, when cables on the Panoramic Mont Blanc cable vehicle service got twisted, trapping 110 people in a string of cars at 3,800 meters altitude.
Around 48 people were lifted from the cable cars by helicopter late on Thursday while around 30 people whose cable cars were closer to the ground level climbed down with help from rescuers, reported the media. He said, “We were in contact with them throughout the night, the people were cold”.
The prefect of the Haute-Savoie region, Georges Franois Leclerc, said the rescue mission recommenced at 06:30 on Friday. One of the officers managed to get into a vehicle the 10-year-old child was in. The cable auto restarted Friday morning, and the remaining tourists were rescued without the use of helicopters.
Hours later, workers were able to bring down 12 more passengers, who walked to a connecting cable auto that took them to the Italian town of Courmayeur.
“The last hour was very, very long”.
The remaining 34 forced to spend the night were given food and blankets and were accompanied by rescuers, police said.
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The Mont Blanc cable vehicle that joins Aiguille du Midi with Punta Helbronner that broke yesterday afternoon was fixed this morning and the remaining 33 of 100 trapped passengers were safely transported to Punta Helbronner.
