'People were very nervous'
2008-01-22 11:54
Cape Town - About 900 people stranded at the top of Table Mountain on Monday night after yet another rolling blackout by Eskom, were finally brought down in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The last of the passengers were brought down at 01:30, Table Mountain Aerial Cableway CEO Sabine Lehman, told News24 on Tuesday.
Electricity at Table Mountain Aerial Cableway cut out at about 19:49 on Monday just as two cable cars were about to dock. The outages were due to Eskom's load-shedding.
The one car was 2m from the top station.
The 65-passenger cable car runs from Tafelberg Road to the top of Table Mountain. The floor rotates giving everyone a 360-degree view on the way up.
There were about 50 people trapped in the cable car at the top station and 40 in another car at the bottom station.
Refunds offered
"Because it was 2m out it won't let you open the doors," said Lehman.
The cable cars usually take about 5-10 minutes to reach the top of the mountain and they travel at a speed of up to 10 metres per second.
Although the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway has back-up generators, the power cut caused the mechanism guiding the cable car into the docking bay to move out of position.
"We sent up a technical team to manually move the platform back into position," said Lehman.
During that time, passengers stuck in the cars got increasingly nervous and flustered.
"The people in the top car were very nervous and frightened and panicky," said Lehman. "To be stuck in a car for more than an hour is not nice."
The heat in the car caused passengers to become agitated. Wilderness Search and Rescue services got into the car and calmed down the passengers.
They then rescued those stuck in the cars.
The passengers in the top cable car were helped out through the roof. "They literally walked into the top station from there," said Lehman.
Rescue services helped the 40 passengers at the bottom car abseil four meters to safety, through the floor of the cable car.
Lehman said 800 to 900 people were stranded at the top while the cable cars were being moved into position.
"They were kept warm in the restaurants," said Lehman. "We opened the bistro so the kids were entertained in an entertainment area and we gave them drinks and things."
The cable cars were ready to start bringing the stranded group down at about 22:30, after at two-and-a-half hour wait.
The cable cars ferried the stranded group down till 01:30 on Tuesday morning. "It was slow-going as the cable cars can only take a certain number of people at a time," said Lehman.
Table Mountain Aerial Cableway will be issuing apologies to all passengers, as well as offering them a refund or another ticket.
Business carried on as usual at the cableway on Tuesday morning at about 09:00, as tourists came in by the busload to take the popular cable car rides to the top of Table Mountain.