Passengers trapped in Mont Blanc cable cars brought to safety
On Friday morning, 33 people were rescued after being trapped overnight in cable cars 3,800 meters above the Mont Blanc glaciers in the French Alps.
After the Panoramic Mont Blanc cable cars came to an unexpected halt on Thursday, French and Italian rescue helicopters were called to aid the 110 people trapped due to jammed cables.
According to The Associated Press, 65 passengers were lifted out of the cars one by one and another 12 were rescued later in the evening by mountain guides who used climbing ropes to carry passengers to the ground.
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Due to poor weather conditions and nightfall, authorities postponed the helicopter rescue until the next morning, leaving the remaining 33 passengers suspended in the cable cars overnight with five rescuers providing them with blankets, food and water.
"They didn't get a lot of sleep," Eric Fournier, the mayor of Chamonix, Mont Blanc, said. "It was a strange experience, but they were warm under blankets and with their families."
When morning came, and once the tangled cables were straightened out, the rescue mission continued. The cars successfully brought all passengers to safety on ground.
"The extent of this rescue operation is simply unbelievable," said Col. Frederic Labrunye, commander of the provincial gendarmerie group of Haute-Savoie. "By the volume of people to rescue - we rarely rescue 110 people at the same time in high mountain - and by the environment in which it happens, in the heart of one of the largest glaciers in Europe, over a distance of five kilometers of cable with 36 cabins."
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Nicole is a Senior Editor at Mashable. She primarily covers entertainment and digital culture trends, and in her free time she can be found watching TV, sending voice notes, or going viral on Twitter for admiring knitwear. You can follow her on Twitter @nicolemichele5.
