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Switzerland Schilthornbahn r^Rescue Operation (1972)
From 11 to 12 March 1972, 72 people had to spend the night in a cabin on the Schilthorn cable car, which was blocked at more than 200m above ground. Swiss Air-Rescue then flew to the accident site in the morning with an Alouette 3 helicopter. At first, technicians were flown to the cabin, but it turned out that the damage could hardly be repaired within a useful period of time. In the meantime, the passengers had been in the cabin for more than ten hours. Therefore, the rescuers dared to try to get the people directly out of the cabin. First, a rescuer was flown into the cabin, who strapped a harness to the passengers and then connected them to the cable of the rescue winch. Additional support came from Interlaken with a second helicopter. One person after the other was then flown through the air to the Birg middle station. This was the world's first rescue from a cable car. (luk)