If you’ve ever wondered what kind of terror fills you when you’re suspended hundreds of meters in the air, trapped inside a cable car that has come to a sudden halt, and stays stuck for four hours, you can ask the nearly 800 tourists who had just that happen to them yesterday in Langkawi.
The gondola malfunction occurred at 5:48pm, during an especially busy time for the cable car service billed as one of the must-dos when visiting the island. Fire and Rescue Department officials, along with a 12-man technical team, managed to get the first group of visitors down just after 9:30pm.
How ‘bout that sunset?!
It would be another couple of hours before all of those dangling in from their now metal box nightmares would have their feet back on land. Officials report that the cable cars had to be manually mobilized to bring each one back to their base station.
We’re not quite sure what that would entail, but visually – it sounds like a serious work-out!
The popular attraction links the Oriental Village retail center with the top of Gunung Matchinchang, the highest peak on the island.
Officials report only one of the passengers was taken to hospital after fainting from the ordeal, while others “appeared to be a bit traumatized” according to Langkawi Development Authority CEO Datuk Azizan Noordin.
Understatement of the holiday season, sir.
A WhatsApp video began to circulate last night, and was later uploaded to Facebook, showing the suspended gondolas, hundreds of meters in the air, unmoving. We cannot imagine the palpable fear that you could have cut with a knife inside the cars.
Service has since been suspended while a thorough investigation into the incident is carried out.
Yep, we’ll just add “gondolas” to our list of overrated modes of novelty transport only to be used in absolutely necessary situations.
