COURMAYEUR, Italy: More than 30 tourists who spent a terrifying night in cable cars in the French Alps were set to be brought to the ground Friday, operators said.
A total of 110 people became trapped when the cable cars ground to a halt shortly before 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) Thursday at an altitude of 3,800 metres (12,500 feet) in the Mont Blanc region.
Seventy-seven people were rescued, including 48 airlifted out by helicopter in a delicate operation as darkness fell. Thirty people in cable cars closest to the ground managed to climb down with the help of rescuers. But with darkness falling and the weather deteriorating, the rescue operation was suspended, leaving 33 tourists, one of them a 10-year-old child, forced to spend the night dangling in mid-air. —Agencies
