Recently, a malfunction occurred on the cable car ropeway at the popular tourist destination Mount Shaohua in Shaanxi Province, China, leading to over a hundred tourists getting stranded in the air for over 8 hours, with many others stuck at the mountain peak. The topic of “Tourists stranded in mid-air for 8 hours due to cable car malfunction at a Shaanxi scenic spot” trended on Weibo’s local hot search.
On August 20th, a tourist who was riding the cable car at Mount Shaohua in Shaanxi posted, “Been stuck in the cable car for almost two hours now, just hoping it doesn’t get windy. The cable car keeps swaying, it’s really scary!”
Mr. Yang, one of the stranded tourists at the mountain peak, told Extreme News that around 4 pm on the 20th, the Shaohua Mountain cable car suddenly stopped operating, with staff at the scenic spot initially citing safety concerns due to strong winds. However, tourists later discovered it was a malfunction of the cable car that left over a hundred people trapped inside the cable car cabins, along with a large number of tourists stranded at the mountaintop.
According to a report by Shaanxi’s “Huashang Daily,” a tourist waiting at the mountaintop cable car platform to descend with their family expressed, “We are a family of six, with elderly and children, came from Chongqing to travel in Shaanxi. Around 4 pm that day, while queuing at the Shaohua Mountain cable car platform to descend, the cable car suddenly malfunctioned and stopped operating.” They further described the alarming situation of being trapped in the cable car cabins mid-air.
It wasn’t until around 7 pm that evening when a female tourist posted online, “It’s been three to four hours on the cable car, heard people below saying that the military police and firefighters have arrived. Some people onboard are losing their composure, loudly demanding to be let down, and it’s getting dark.”
At 11:23 pm that night, she posted again, stating that despite efforts, the cable car remained unrepaired after five hours.
By 12:05 am the next day, she mentioned swinging on the cable car for 8 hours until the repairs were finally made, nearly dawn. At 1:36 am, she posted once more, saying, “Swinging for 9 hours, finally descending, what a relief, everyone below was also getting anxious.”
According to Mr. Yang, the cable car was not repaired until after midnight on the 20th, with the scenic spot organizing the stranded passengers to descend in batches. By the time he descended, it was around 2-3 am on the 21st, reaching home close to 4 am.
In response, staff at Mount Shaohua scenic spot explained, “There was a sudden alert for strong winds, thunderstorms, and hail in Shaanxi that day, but we didn’t receive it here. The strong winds caused the cable car cabin to shake, leading to a minor mechanical failure.”
Following the incident, the cable car company announced a temporary suspension of operations for maintenance checks.
Public information shows that the Shaohua Mountain cable car, dubbed as the “longest in northwest China,” spans 1858 meters with an elevation difference of 837 meters. However, as previously reported, the current operating cable car at Mount Shaohua has a limited carrying capacity, transporting only over two thousand people per day. In May 30, 2017, and June 14, 2020, the cable car had previously halted operations due to abnormal noises and severe weather, resulting in thousands of tourists being stranded.