Tourists spend night in stuck' cable cars near Europe's highest mountain
9 Sept 2016 3:30 PM IST
The cable cars stopped when cables became tangled in high winds, said a report.
Dozens of tourists, including a 10-year-old child, were safely rescued after being trapped in cable cars dangling above the slopes of Mont Blanc in the Alps overnight.- The cable car, which offers spectacular up-close views of Western Europe's tallest mountains and deep valleys below, connects the Aiguille de Midi peak in France, at 3,842 meters (12,605 feet), to Pointe Helbronner in Italy, at 3,462 meters (11,358 feet).
- Helicopters had to delicately fly over the cable, which is risky itself, then lower a rescuer on to an area \"not larger than a table,\" strap on passengers one by one and extract them, he said, describing it as \"air surgery.\"
- Rescuers on the glacier below helped transfer them to a shelter on the slopes before they were brought further down the mountains.
- When the fog moved in, the helicopter effort was called off, and rescuers concentrated on bringing down people whose cable cars were closest to the ground, Italian rescuer Mario Mochet said.
- Five rescuers stayed overnight in the cable cars and provided blankets, food and water to help weather the chilly mountain night-time conditions.
- The travelers were brought to Chamonix and the Italian town of Courmayeur. A series of cable cars got stuck after the cables tangled at 3,600 meters altitude, prompting a major rescue operation.
- The mountain rescue service in the French city of Chamonix said cables that had become entangled were repaired, and the cable cars were able to resume operation the next morning.
Dozens of tourists, including a 10-year-old child, were safely rescued after being trapped in cable cars dangling above the slopes of Mont Blanc in the Alps overnight.
The cable cars stopped when cables became tangled in high winds, said a report.
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