45 people stuck overnight in cable cars at Mont Blanc in Alps

Reporting from PARIS —  A series of cable cars carrying tourists 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 midair overnight, France’s interior minister said.

Four helicopters were deployed after 110 people became stuck when the cable cars stalled because of a “technical incident,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said. He said the helicopters rescued 65 people before the efforts were suspended for the night because of rough flight conditions.

First aid workers were transported to the site and will be spending the night in the cable cars with those who are trapped, Cazeneuve said. Rescuers provided blankets, food and water to help people weather the chilly mountain conditions overnight.

The cable car system, which offers spectacular up-close views of Western Europe’s tallest mountains and deep valleys below, connects the Aiguille du Midi peak in France, at an altitude of 12,605 feet, to the Pointe Helbronner in Italy, at 11,358 feet.

Cables carrying the Panoramic Mont Blanc cars reportedly became tangled about 4 p.m. Workers from the operating company tried to untangle the lines but failed. They alerted authorities and French and Italian mountain rescue specialists were brought by helicopter to evacuate passengers.

Passengers were transferred to other cable cars that brought them down the mountain to Courmayeur in Italy. Descending from the cable cars, one passenger told reporters “it ended well” despite five or six hours suspended midair in cold mountain conditions.

French police said the evacuation was suspended at 9:30 p.m. Eastern time and will resume Friday at 7:15 a.m.

Chamonix Mayor Eric Fournier said earlier on BFM-TV that “there’s nothing fundamentally to fear.”

The cable car journey normally takes 30 to 35 minutes. The Panoramic Cable Car is operated in the summer season, when large numbers of climbers and tourists converge on the area. Another series of cable cars takes skiers and visitors to the peak of the Aiguille du Midi year-round.

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UPDATES:

10:30 p.m.: This article was updated with the number of people rescued and information from France’s interior minister.

This article was originally published at 12:45 p.m.