Around 250 people were left trapped on a cable car service in Colombia, after an accident on the line left one dead and at least 21 injured.
The Metrocable car in the city of Medellin collapsed onto a taxi car waiting below, seriously injuring the driver and and the 11 people inside.
The dead man has been identified locally as Jhon Jairo Londono, 49.
The driver of the minicab was also injured and pictures from the scene show the smashed cable car next to the yellow taxi.
The other 20 people who were injured – 10 from inside the pod – were treated at the scene and in hospital.
It was not immediately clear how high was the cable car when it came down, but authorities said it collapsed while approaching the station.
Carlos Quintero, head of Medellín’s disaster response agency, told local media that one cabin had stopped as it entered the station and had been struck by the following cabin, which then ‘detached and fell to the pavement’.
The cable car system, Metro de Medellín, moves people to and from some of the city’s low-income neighborhoods which are informally settled on steep hills.
Metrocable manager Tomás Elejalde told reporters Wednesday’s accident was the worst since the system was inaugurated, with an emergency worker adding claiming the accident was something ‘that has never happened’ before.
Footage shared on social media shows people lying on the ground in the aftermath of the incident.
The city’s mayor, Fico Gutiérrez said: ‘There is an emergency on the Metrocable system in the northeastern area of Medellín. A cabin with 10 people tell to the lower part of the platform at Popular station.
‘People are being transferred to medical care centres.’
This is a developing news story, more to follow soon… Check back shortly for further updates.
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