15 people rescued after shutdown of Hartbeespoort cable car

A mechanical failure in the main drive at the lower end of the Hartbeespoort Aerial Cable made for a seven-hour rescue mission for 15 people caught in three gondolas on their way to the top of the Magaliesberg on Saturday.

“When I heard about it I stopped the whole system, immediately alerted our rescue personnel, and put our emergency evacuation procedures into place,” said manager Iain Gunn.

There were also 125 visitors and 30 staff members on top of the mountain. The cable system stretches 785m up the side of the mountain, reaching a peak height of 378m.

Jacques Potgieter and his wife Leané from Northcliff told the Pretoria East Rekord they were a few minutes from the top when the gondola jerked to a stop.

A short while later it started up again then started going back down the mountain.

“Emergency brakes kicked in and there we were, hanging in the air. We phoned Iain to find out what was going on and he told us that the main bearing had broken and rescue teams were on their way to get us out,” said Jacques.

“We couldn’t understand how it could possibly have taken so long but seeing the amount of work those brave folks from Mountain Search and Rescue had to go through to get to us, we all found a brand new respect for their jobs.”

Gunn said the priority was to put mothers and children safely on the ground, to be followed by men.

“We designed a procedure and equipment with Mountain Rescue South Africa specifically designed for that cableway. Rescuers climb up the towers, then abseil down on our main cable to the gondola where specialised harnesses and equipment is used to extricate people and lower them to the ground,” said Gunn.

The highest gondola of the three on the cable was 28m from the ground, he said. Visitors and staff on top the mountain were taken down by helicopter and volunteers from the 4×4 Rescue Club.

The cableway will remain closed until further notice.