200 rescued from Spain's highest peak after cable-car failure

Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain): Over 200 persons were evacuated on Thursday from Mount Teide in the Canary Islands, where they spent the night after the peak's cable-car broke down, media reports said.

Another 70 were rescued throughout Wednesday afternoon after the only cable-car on the 3,718-meter (12,000-foot) volcano, the highest peak in Spain, had an electrical failure that left two cabins stuck in midair, each with 35 passengers on board.

Alongside the 70 people trapped in the cable car were 200 people, primarily tourists, who were already near or on the summit, Efe news reported.

Many on the mountain spent the night camping with some 50 emergency workers, who brought supplies, and some were able to hike down on their own throughout Wednesday and Thursday.

Others were not physically capable of walking down themselves and had to wait for helicopters to arrive.

The people stuck in the cable-car midair were helped down on Wednesday thanks to an elaborate rope system created by fire-fighters.

The company that made the cable-car said they thought a security lock had activated itself, though they were not aware of the cause.