12-hr ordeal in stuck ski-lift
2007-12-16 08:03
Tokyo - Ninety people were trapped for up
to 12 hours in gondolas when a ski lift broke down at a ski
resort in Japan on Saturday, Japanese media reported.
Rescuers had to scale the ski lift at Otaki, 180 km northwest of Tokyo, force open the door on each of the 44
gondolas and winch the passengers one-by-one to the ground about 20m below in freezing temperatures.
The ski-lift broke down at around 10:30 but with the gondolas strung out along a 2.4km cable it
was nearly 22:10 when the last passengers were lowered to safety, the Yomiuri newspaper and Kyodo news service
reported.
No one was hurt but two women who felt unwell had been taken to hospital, the news agency said. The breakdown was caused by a cable coming loose from a pulley, it said.
- Reuters