Seoraksan Cable Car Malfunctions 70 Meters Above Ground... 87 Passengers Descend Safely After Over 2 Hours of Ordeal

Seoraksan Cable Car, which stopped operating due to an accident on the 20th. Photo by Yonhap News

An accident occurred on July 20 in which the Seoraksan Cable Car in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, stopped operating during its run. As a result, more than 80 passengers were left in fear for over two hours, and the situation was not resolved until after 8 p.m.

According to fire authorities and the Gangwon Ilbo, at around 3:56 p.m. that day, two cable cars traveling between Seoraksan Sogongwon and Gwongeumseong suddenly stopped due to a hydraulic system malfunction. At the time of the accident, there were a total of 87 passengers on board: 42 in the ascending cable car and 45 in the descending cable car.

At 3:56 p.m. on the 20th, a Seoraksan cable car in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, stopped operating during its run, prompting fire authorities to conduct rescue operations. Yonhap News

The cable car operator initiated emergency repairs and managed to resume operations with a temporary fix at 6:09 p.m., 2 hours and 13 minutes after the accident occurred. About 10 minutes later, the descending cable car arrived at the Sogongwon terminal and 44 passengers disembarked. Passengers in the ascending cable car, as well as 209 people waiting at the Gwongeumseong terminal, waited for operations to fully resume, which was completed at around 7:40 p.m. After four round trips, all passengers safely arrived at the departure point inside Seoraksan National Park by 8:13 p.m.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.