Some 300 visitors were trapped in the cabins of Taipei's Maokong cable car system yesterday afternoon for about an hour due to an equipment failure on a sizzling summer day as the temperature soared to a high of 38.6oC.
The equipment failure occurred at 4:50pm at the Corner One Station (轉角一站) and left 323 passengers in 57 cabins hanging in mid-air, system operator Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said.
"We have activated the rescue mode to evacuate passengers. It's a mechanical failure and we will ensure that every visitor returns to the ground safely," TRTC vice president Tan Kuo-kuang (譚國光) said.
Tan said POMA of France, the system's builder, sent engineers to fix the problem as the company's workers evacuated the passengers.
The evacuation began at 5:50pm. The last passengers were evacuated from the system at around 6:55pm.
The Taipei City Department of Health later also sent ambulances and medical staff from nearby Taipei Wangfang Hospital to assist passengers that might be suffering heat-related injuries.
After waiting in a cable car cabin for more than 40 minutes before returning to the station, a passenger from Kaohsiung expressed his frustration over the breakdown.
"It's like sitting in an oven ... I am very disappointed with the cable car," he said.
Since its operation earlier this month, the cable car has experienced several shutdowns caused by lighting strikes, thundershowers or mechanical failures.
On Friday, a visitor to the Maokong system suffered from a minor head injury after being hit by a digital video camera that was dropped from above by another visitor.
That incident marked the first visitor injury for the system.
The Central Weather Bureau said that yesterday's temperature of 38.6oC yesterday matched the high on July 31, 1921, for the hottest day recorded in the nation's history.
Additional reporting by CNA
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) yesterday appealed to the authorities to release former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) from pretrial detention amid conflicting reports about his health. The TPP at a news conference on Thursday said that Ko should be released to a hospital for treatment, adding that he has blood in his urine and had spells of pain and nausea followed by vomiting over the past three months. Hsieh Yen-yau (謝炎堯), a retired professor of internal medicine and Ko’s former teacher, said that Ko’s symptoms aligned with gallstones, kidney inflammation and potentially dangerous heart conditions. Ko, charged with
RSS