CLOSE CALL

Midair Helicopter Rescue in Germany

For 20 stranded in cable car.

A helicopter was finally able to rescue the conductor and 19 passengers stranded in a cable car on southern Germany's Mount Tegelberg. The group was left suspended 260 feet in the air for nearly 18 hours after a paraglider and his tandem passenger slammed into the cables and stalled the ride. Rescuers brought food, blankets, and toys for the children aboard, as they waited for heavy winds to subside. Most of the passengers were tourists. Thirty were also stranded in a second car closer to the ground, and 130 were stuck at the station on the mountain itself; those people were rescued by helicopter and climbing teams on Friday, while the first car could not be reached until Saturday.