21 Passengers Trapped In Frozen Tram Cars Overnight Rescued In New Mexico

KEY POINTS

Stranded passengers were given food, water and blankets before rescue
They were lowered to the ground using ropes and were evacuated by a helicopter
Rescue personnel hiked to and from the site as high winds impeded helicopter access

Twenty one people trapped in two frozen tramcars were rescued after being left stranded overnight in New Mexico. The cars were carrying employees of the tramway and a restaurant on top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque.

It was the last ride of the night and the passengers were left stranded in the tram cars as operators had to stop operations after "severe icing" and "cold temperature" affected the emergency cables.

"That cable actually dropped down within the system, and it was not safe to operate. So, we had to cease operations due to the high winds and the icing and unfortunately stranded," Sandia Peak Tramway general manager Michael Donovan said to KOAT.

According to incident commander Spenser Moreland, New Mexico Search and Rescue was informed about the incident at 3 a.m. It took the rescue team several hours to hike to the site and create an evacuation plan. Once at the scene, responders provided the passengers with food, water and blankets.

"We did an assessment of everybody on the tram, determined they were fine and doing well, given the conditions," Moreland said during a press briefing Saturday, ABC News reported.

Initially, 20 people were rescued in a "coordinated effort" between Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, the New Mexico State Police, the fire department and New Mexico Search and Rescue.

The passengers in the first tramcar were lowered to the ground using a rope system and then evacuated using a helicopter. The last passenger trapped in the second car was rescued a few hours later on Saturday. No one was injured.

All 21 people and rescuers are off the mountain with no injuries. We want to thank BCSO, NM Search and Rescue Teams, NM State Police, and Sandia Peak Aerial Tram personnel for their assistance in making this a successful rescue. Way to start the New Year off right!!
— BernalilloCountyFire (@BerncoFire) January 2, 2022

"This is not something that we hadn't kind of planned on at some point. We've done a lot of training with all of our search and rescue stakeholders here in the past regarding the tram operations," Bernalillo County Under Sheriff Larry Koren said, as per ABC News.

Rescue personnel had to hike back to the base as high wind in the area impeded helicopter access.

"We are happy to report that at this time all people needing rescue from the Tram cars have been rescued and are safely at base," the Bernalillo County Fire Department said on Twitter. "We still have rescue personnel on the mountain who are hiking out due to difficulty in making access with the helicopter. "