A family of three children and six adults were rescued from a cable car in Taxco, Guerrero, after a cable snapped at around 5 p.m. Tuesday, leaving them trapped in three cabins for almost four hours.
Three of the passengers were taken to hospital to be treated for panic.
The incident occurred when a counterweight cable broke on another part of the line and the whole system was brought to a halt. That left the passengers stranded in their cabins 30 meters above the ground.
Videos posted on social media showed Civil Protection officers and firefighters in the dramatic rescue. A team of dozens of rescuers created a makeshift zipline from the cabins to a nearby building. Dangling high above ground and sometimes obstructed by tall trees, the passengers slowly moved along the line to the building.
Onlookers applauded once the last of the family members had made it to safety.
A report released by the head of the Guerrero Civil Protection agency, Marco César Mayares Salvador, stated that none of the passengers was ever in danger. The main steel cable was not damaged and it was a counterweight cable that broke and caused the system to fail.
The cable car’s operation has been suspended pending a maintenance review to replace any mechanical parts in poor condition.
The cable car is used by hundreds of tourists a day. It connects the five-star Montetaxco hotel, located at the top of a hill, with the center of the city.
With reports from El Financiero, TV Azteca and El Heraldo de México
