A paraglider got caught in the steel cables of the Hochfelln cable car.
Dozens of people were then stuck in the gondolas and on the summit.
Bergen – The mountain rescue service in Bergen had to go on a major rescue operation on Thursday, May 4th.
A paraglider got caught in the ropes of the Hochfelln cable car during a flight maneuver in the afternoon.
Paraglider gets caught in the ropes of the Hochfelln cable car - and hangs 80 meters above the ground
The screen had wrapped itself around the suspension ropes and saved the man from falling, as the mountain rescue service explained in a press release.
The 26-year-old was uninjured, but could not extricate himself from his situation.
He hung around 80 meters above the ground in a wire rope.
The train had to stop abruptly in the incident, it is said.
Both cabins of the cable car came to a standstill on the open stretch between the middle and mountain stations.
The rescue gondola could not be used for the rescue because of the paraglider that was hanging in the ropes.
Around 20 people were in the two gondolas at the time.
There were around 50 people at the summit, including babies, a pregnant woman, elderly people and two dogs.
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Emergency services rescue cable car guests - helicopters on site
A large contingent of rescue workers moved out.
"In the next few hours, the operations management coordinated two parallel operations: the rescue of the paraglider on the one hand, and the evacuation of the Hochfelln cable car on the other," the press release continues.
Groups from the mountain rescue service working in parallel climbed along the ropes to the cabins and looked after the passengers.
They put rescue harnesses on them and lowered them to the ground using special mountain rescue kits.
The lower gondola hovered about 20 meters above the ground, the upper about 30 meters.
More than 60 people were evacuated with the help of several helicopters.
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Paraglider gets caught in the ropes of the Hochfelln cable car - rescue only well after midnight
It was not possible to rescue the paraglider from the air.
Therefore, the rescuers had to descend from the mountain rescue service to the paraglider on the carrying cable.
"In doing so, they had to cover a distance of several hundred meters in complex safety work and climb over supports and rope riders on the way," the mountain rescue service continues.
It was now dark.
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The operation lasted late into the night.
© Bergwacht Bayern/BW Bergen
Paragliders rescued - caught in ropes of the Hochfelln cable car
"Because of the long distance traveled, a special cable car for rescue operations on wire ropes had to be organized in addition to the mountain rescue service's standardized equipment," it continues.
At around 1:45 a.m., the rescuers were finally able to lower the paraglider to the ground and bring it down into the valley.
The man came to a clinic for routine evaluation.
Nine mountain rescue services with around 70 emergency services were involved in the rescue operation, as well as several dozen helpers from the police, district office, fire brigade, Maltese relief service and state rescue service.
Four helicopters were also in action.
The last incident involving a paraglider on a cable car in Bavaria was the rescue operation on the Tegelbergbahn in August 2011.
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