Dozens rescued from Ecuador cable car, one of world’s highest

This handout picture released by the Fire Brigade of Quito shows firefighters rescuing passengers in the cable car cabins in Quito on July 7, 2023. Dozens of people were rescued in the early hours of Friday after being trapped for nearly 10 hours on one of the world’s highest tourist cable cars in Ecuador’s capital Quito. Seventy-five people were brought to the ground, all “safe and sound,” after an operation involving firefighters and the police, the municipality of Quito said in a statement. (Photo by Handout / Fire Brigade of Quito / AFP)

QUITO, Ecuador — Dozens of people were rescued in the early hours of Friday after being trapped for nearly 10 hours on one of the world’s highest tourist cable cars in Ecuador’s capital Quito.

Seventy-five people were brought to the ground, all “safe and sound,” after an operation involving firefighters and the police, the municipality of Quito said in a statement.

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The visitors were trapped for “nearly 10 hours” after the system was paralyzed due to an electrical problem.

The statement said 48 people stuck at the system’s uppermost terminal at an altitude of some 4,000 meters (13,120 feet) were brought to safety.

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Seventeen were then rescued from gondolas stuck on the line while another 10 came to the ground after the system restarted.

The cable car travels a distance of 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) between two terminals, the lowest at an altitude of 3,100 meters above sea level.

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Video footage on the municipality’s Twitter account shows people being abseiled to safety from a gondola. Others, including children, are seen emerging, wrapped in emergency blankets, after their cabins made it back safely to the ground.