The 33 tourists, including three children, ended an extraordinarily complex rescue effort over two days amid the spectacular but risky landscape.
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The cable vehicle connects Aiguille du Midi peak on the French side of the mountain and the Helbronner summit on the Italian border.
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.
“The extent of this rescue operation is simply unbelievable”, said Colonel Frederic Labrunye, commander of the provincial gendarmerie group of Haute-Savoie.
Another series of cable cars takes skiers and visitors to the peak of the Aiguille de Midi year-round.
Early Friday morning, the remaining passengers still suspended high in the air were brought down to safety. The passengers were then escorted by foot to the nearest mountain station. He said the helicopters rescued 65 people before the efforts were suspended for the night because of rough flight conditions. Children aged seven and nine from South Korea and a 10-year-old from Italy were among those stranded. “It was just before midnight when they finally belayed us out of the gondolas which was really quite an experience”.
The travelers were brought to Chamonix and the Italian town of Courmayeur.
“We were there nearly 10 hours in the cable auto”, American tourist Kathy Cook told The Associated Press.
After helicopters were grounded, some people – those closest to the ground – were extracted by rescuers working from the glacier beneath them, the AP says.
Rescue teams handed out blankets and food and water to the remaining 60 who will now have to wait there until morning.
But around 30 others – including a 10-year-old child – were forced to spend the night after the rescue was stopped by fog.
The five-kilometer-long (three mile) 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.
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The president of the company which runs the cable cars explained that the incident was caused when a tow cable crossed over the main support cable in three places.
