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Tourists airlifted from Spain's highest peak after cable car fails Tourists airlifted from Tenerife volcano after cable car fails
(35 minutes later)
Three helicopters have assisted more than 100 tourists who spent the night at high altitude after they were rescued from a malfunctioning cable car in Spain’s Canary Islands. Two hundred and fifty people have been rescued from a volcano in Tenerife after a cable car service broke down, leaving dozens of passengers trapped in two gondolas and forcing 111 to spend the night at high altitude.
Most tourists had been airlifted by midday on Thursday while a small group was walking down from the Teide volcano on Tenerife accompanied by rescue workers, said Lourdes Jorge, a spokeswoman with the regional emergency service. She said no injuries had been reported. Firefighters, Guardia Civil officers and other rescue workers were scrambled to the Teide volcano on the island on Wednesday afternoon after the system suffered an apparent malfunction.
The volcano’s cable car operator said that a security lock had been triggered automatically for unknown reasons on Wednesday, leaving more than 250 people trapped in two cabins. More than half the passengers – including 70 who were lowered 40 metres (120ft) from the stranded cars to the ground using ropes, harnesses and pulleys – were rescued on Wednesday afternoon. Once hundred and eleven people, including eight children, had to spend the night in cabins on the volcano.
More than half of them were evacuated by the end of Wednesday, but 111 in the higher cabin were accommodated for the night in facilities over 3,500 metres above sea level. By midday on Thursday, four helicopters had collected 57 of those stranded overnight, while others walked down the volcano accompanied by rescue workers.
An AFP photographer at the scene said many of those evacuated by helicopter were wearing shorts and sandals.
“There is no serious injury, some people were dizzy, had high blood pressure, some scrapes, light injuries,” a local emergency services spokeswoman said. Psychologists were on hand to help people deal with the trauma of the event.
The authorities did not provide details on the nationalities of the tourists who became trapped, but the AFP photographer said the majority were foreigners, including Australian and British citizens.
The volcano’s cable car operator said the incident had been caused after a security lock was triggered automatically for unknown reasons. It added that emergency protocols had been followed and that those forced to spend the night on the volcano had been provided with “medical help, warm clothes and food”.
The cable car system and surrounding roads remained closed on Thursday as the rescue operation wound down and an investigation began. Operators said the system would not reopen before Saturday at the earliest.
Mount Teide, whose summit is more than 3,700 metres (12,000ft) above sea level, is the highest Spanish peak and a popular tourist destination.
The Teide cable car, inaugurated in 1971, was renovated between 1999 and 2007.
“The cables and towers were also replaced,” according to its official website.
“The stations were remodelled. All the machinery and the electrical centre were also renewed. The security and control systems were changed and a periodic maintenance and safety plan was established.”