A critical incident occurred on the world’s second largest city gondola community early this morning, killing one individual and injuring twenty others. A gondola cabin reportedly hit one other cabin because it entered one of many elevated stations of Medellín’s Metrocable Line Ok. The second cabin then fell onto a automobile on the road under. The incident occurred at an intermediate station known as In style, one in every of 4 stations on the road. After the incident, about 200 individuals remained caught in different cabins earlier than being evacuated. The deceased particular person was recognized as John Jairo Londoño Arango, age 55.
Line Ok is the oldest of six gondola strains that make up Medellín Metrocable aerial community, which is absolutely built-in with town’s subway, streetcar and bus system. The system was constructed by Poma and opened in 2004 with 93 cabins connecting 4 stations. The elevate’s cabins had been manufactured by Sigma and carry as much as 2,800 riders per hour in an 8 seated, 2 standing configuration. The system reached 100,000 working hours in 2019, operating seven days every week for 19 hours per day. It was just lately closed for a multi-day upkeep interval on the finish of January.
Line Ok will stay closed whereas the incident is investigated. “Providers will probably be suspended till the causes of this tragedy are clearly recognized, the pertinent corrective measures are taken and the security of the customers of the system is assured,” stated Mayor Fico Gutiérrez. Different strains of the Metrocable system proceed to function.
