Jul 9, 2008 11:53 pm US/Eastern
Bronx Zoo Cable Car System Repaired
Malfunction Had Stranded 37 People In 14 Cars For Hours
BRONX (CBS) ―
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More than three-dozen people were stranded high above the Bronx Zoo for several hours on July 9 after the facility's "Skyfari" broke down.
CBS
It was a high-wire act up at the Bronx Zoo on Wednesday.
At approximately 5:30 p.m., the cable car ride known as the "Skyfari" suffered a mechanical failure after one of its gondolas went slightly out of alignment, trapping 37 people in 14 cars high above the celebrated zoo.
Just after 10 p.m. the system was repaired.
Chopper 2 HD was on the scene ealier Wednesday as members of the NYPD climbed support towers and worked with FDNY officials below to formulate a plan to rescue a family of three, which was swinging back and forth in an offline gondola some 100 feet off the ground.
At around 7:40 p.m. Chopper 2 HD cameras captured the NYPD and firemen using a crane and bucket to get close to one of the cars. The plan was to use the same technique for all 14 gondolas if they were unable to get the system back online.
Around 8:15 p.m. a woman in a red shirt and jean shorts was lowered into the bucket wearing a safety harness. A young girl followed minutes later.
The woman, Olga Perez, said she was visiting the zoo from her home in suburban New City with relatives from Colombia, who were stranded in other cable cars with her terrified 9-year-old son. She said firefighters talked to them and gave them water.
"We were trying to calm ourselves," she said. "Deep in my heart I knew I was going to take it a little bit at a time."
Police and fire officials were able to get the gondola back online and restarted the system, allowing the passengers in the other cars to complete their rides before getting off.
The Skyfari, which passes over the butterfly garden, the baboon reserves and part of the African plains exhibit where lions and gazelles roam, offers visitors a bird's-eye view of the celebrated zoo and its surroundings. Each of its gondolas can hold up to four people.
Neighborhood resident Gwen Lawson said she saw the paralyzed cable cars through binoculars from her 22nd-floor apartment window shortly after a thunder and lightning storm.
The Skyfari, which opened in the early 1970s, is certified for operation by the state Department of Labor. A department spokesman didn't immediately reply to an e-mail and a telephone message left at an after-hours number.
In April 2006, both cars on an aerial tramway that shuttles commuters and tourists between Manhattan and an island in the East River stopped moving because of mechanical problems. The breakdown stranded 69 people for about 11 hours.
Police staged a daring rescue, going up in a diesel-powered gondola to reach the cable cars, which offer breathtaking views of the city from up to 250 feet high, and removing the passengers a few at a time.
The Roosevelt Island cable car system, featured in the movies "Spider-Man" and "City Slickers," was repaired and upgraded.
Please stay with CBS 2 HD and wcbstv.com for more on this developing story.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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